Secrets, Twists and Chaos
by MeteorLeopard
Summary: "Well then, I suppose you'll just have to try harder to find out, won't you, midget?" Toushirou has a problem and that black-haired fury isn't helping him solve it one little bit. And are those... masks?
1. What's your Name!

_**I've finally got something published again! So I hope you all enjoy this little story people!**_

_**Title: Kendo Chaos**_

_**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**_

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The day would have been perfect, had it not been for the yell that sounded from three roads down. A small girl with pitch black hair, carrying a bag with the initials 'K.K' scrawled on it in permanent marker, twisted her head at the voice, her sometimes soft grey eyes now hardened with steel. They flashed as she narrowed them briefly before her feet began to run, heading rapidly right towards the source of the disturbance. She heard a muffled thud just as her sneaker-clad feet skidded on the tarmac of the road and she rounded the last corner. Standing pressed up against the high wall of the street was a young boy, maybe only eight years old, perhaps nine, ganged up upon by some older ones. The girl didn't stop and dashed forward, her fists already clenching, ready to knock some teeth out if she had to.

"Oi!" Her shout effectively drew the attention of the four older boys surrounding the younger kid and their eyes widened pathetically as they saw the short, black-haired fury approaching with frightening speed. But they still weren't backing off and the girl put on another spurt of speed.

"Get the hell away from the kid or I'll pummel you till your mamma's don't recognize ya!"

That seemed to work; mostly because her threats were usually believable since she tended to follow up on them. The tough guys scampered and the girl slowed her run as she saw them disappear around a corner, shouting stuff like, "We won't forget this!" and "We'll be back!"

She rolled her eyes. _Yeah, that's what you said the last time and the time before that__as well. And you never seem to stick around too long._

Sighing once, the girl turned to face the smaller boy still standing up against the wall; he hadn't moved even after the bullies were gone. He was crying and she frowned. He was small, tiny actually, even by normal eight-year old standards and his little fists were bunched up tight and pressed hard into his eye sockets, undoubtedly making stars erupt behind his lids. The girl walked over to him and knelt down slowly so as not to scare the little boy away.

"Come now, quit crying already." Gently she reached up and pried his tight fists away from his eyes. She smiled at him when he finally looked at her. "You're supposed to be a big boy now, right?" The boy just looked at her for a moment, his eyes rimmed in red and his little eyebrows furrowed. The girl pulled out a packet of tissues and handed the whole thing to him. "Here ya go. Now wipe your face."

Patiently she waited for the boy to blow his nose and for his slight hiccoughs to recede. Then she smiled at him again. The boy blinked once at her. "Nee-san…"

"Hai?" _Man, I wish Yuzu were here. She'd know how to handle this! _On the outside she kept up her smiling face for the scared little boy.

He cocked his head to the side. "What's yer name?"

The girl's grey eyes softened again. "Kurosaki Karin."

The little boy nodded once, as though to say he understood. Karin stood up again. "Well then, where do you live?"

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Around the corner, a good 20 meters away, another boy watched this scene. He'd been walking around in his gigai when he'd heard the yell. Sure, he was technically only here to kill Hollows and stop Espada attacks, but in the end it was all to save human life. So if a little kid was getting attacked he wasn't just going to stand around and wait to see how it played out. But then again, that's exactly what he'd ended up doing in the end.

Someone else had arrived there before him and by the time he was about to turn the corner, the four terrified guys had come hurtling around it, yelling things over their shoulders. The boy stood watching with his intense turquoise blue eyes as the young girl with black hair held out her hand to the little child, taking his small hand quite gently. The boy frowned slightly. She was certainly a strange human. She made enough of an impact to scare away four boys without even fighting them but she managed to gain a little kid's trust so easily within only a minute. He stayed still for a moment before he watched them walk off to the other end of the street, the little boy's hand linked with the girl's. Once they were out of sight the other boy sighed once and ran his hand through his white hair. Toushirou stretched once and dismissed the thoughts. _Odd girl indeed._

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

A satisfying crunch sounded from beneath Karin's knuckles as she broke another guy's nose. The teenager in question stumbled back two steps and into the ranks of his cronies. Karin glowered at them and her mouth hardened into a tight line. They seemed wary of her all of a sudden. Karin took a step forward. The guys took a step back. She took another forward. And they ran.

Karin remained standing where she was, hands still balled into fists as she kept her stance ready and aggressive. But the cowards didn't even look back as they disappeared around the corner. Karin sighed once gustily and leant down to dust her uniform skirt off. As much as it irked her, she was officially classified as a girl and therefore had to wear a skirt. But she wouldn't be Karin if she hadn't modified it a bit to suit her. The teachers had given up on trying to dissuade her from wearing the gym shorts underneath it by now. And that suited Karin just fine. She needed those shorts on if she was going to keep little kids from getting beaten up every day.

She picked up her school bag as she prepared to walk away. She wasn't in a hurry but she didn't want to hang around much in particular either. She frowned. Ever since Ichi-nii had started getting busy with his Shinigami duties he'd been spending less time in their neighbourhood. And that had meant that the bullying had picked up. Karin still tried to stop it wherever she could but obviously she couldn't be everywhere at every time. However, she wanted to be a lingering thought at the back of people's minds so that they considered her before deciding whether or not it was worth trying to bully someone.

"Hey, you there."

Karin turned her head at the voice and narrowed her eyes. Approximately fifteen guys in high school uniform were gathered at the top of the street. Karin dropped her bag again, freeing her hands just in case she needed them. But then again, her legs were usually enough to deal with normal humans. And these guys had no shred of reiatsu on them.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Toushirou huffed irritably as he crossed his arms into the sleeves of his navy kimono and glared craters into the floorboards through his closed eyelids.

"Karakura First District versus Kotei Academy is about to begin!"

The nerve of that Madarame. Toushirou had told the guy a hundred times, _'Don't get too involved in human affairs.' _And what had the idiot gone and done? Landed himself as the coach for a high school kendo team!

"Since this is an exhibition, we'll declare whoever lands the first hit as the winner."

_Whatever. _Toushirou still had his arms crossed tightly and his hands clenched within the sleeves of the stupid kendo uniform. The sleeves were far too narrow for his taste. And it was so awkward to move in! Nothing like the Shinigami robes.

He glanced down their 'team'. And what kind of line-up was this? Himself, a human guy with reiatsu but possessing less courage than a weasel, Abarai, another human without reiatsu and lastly Madarame bringing up the rear. Toushirou was clenching his jaw tightly to stop himself from attacking Madarame.

"Pst."

He ground his teeth but ignored the voice.

"Pst. Pssst! Taicho!" Her whispered voice was annoying in his ear.

Now normally he would have replied with at least a '_What do you want'_, but right now, he was in no mood for one of her hair-brained answers. "Go away Matsumoto and shut up."

Matsumoto huffed and pouted, obviously annoyed. "Fine then, I won't tell you."

If that was supposed to be provoking then it was failing amiably.

"First contestants, come forward!"

Toushirou glared down at his headgear and irritably pulled it over his head. He proceeded onto the match square and looked up at his opponent. Toushirou had to blink once before he frowned.

Weren't they going up against a high-school? So why was his opponent so short? Perhaps even shorter than him? He tried to look closer at the face behind the headgear but couldn't see anything, they were still too far away. Both knelt on their heels for a moment.

"Ready?"

He rose to take his stance and watched his opponent. From the way that they were standing it seemed they were accustomed to fighting. But the way that they held the shinai seemed to tell otherwise. Toushirou narrowed his eyes and the person adjusted their grip. Seemed like they had gotten the right position after all. So why had they held the shinai wrongly beforehand?

"Begin!"

Neither moved for while, Toushirou just keeping his eyes on the other. Their stance itself wasn't bad. In fact, he had the feeling that if this were a hand-to-hand fight his opponent would be much better off than in a kendo match like right now. Toushirou struck once downward, his shinai aiming for the top of his opponent's headgear.

His shinai was stopped.

Toushirou frowned as he pulled the wooden sword back. Behind him, he could feel the suddenly more intense stares from the others. This human had blocked the attack. Toushirou kept his frown in place. This human's strength was high. His hit had been hard enough to usually knock a shinai from unpracticed hands such as theirs but instead they had met his strike with enough strength to resist the hit.

Toushirou lunged forward again, trying another hit, releasing just that tiny fraction of his reiatsu to strengthen this gigai's muscles. The person's left foot slid back for support and the overhead strike was, once again, stopped. This time though Toushirou followed it up with a thrust. The opponent easily lowered their shinai and side stepped just in time to avoid it.

They struck back and Toushirou was momentarily thrown by the sheer _strength _that this human possessed. They were so small! He released a little more of his strength and eased up on his restraint a little. But only a little. Hurting or injuring a human was not an option.

His shinai crossed with his opponent's again and they met his attack with their own, the force equal and matched, each pushing against the other's crossed shinai, trying to gain the momentary advantage.

Toushirou gritted his teeth. This human was so strong! Almost… made for battle. Not kendo fights, but normal, weaponless hand-to-hand combat. The way that they'd held their shinai at the beginning of the fight was a dead giveaway, he couldn't believe that he hadn't seen this before: But his opponent right now was not used to fighting with a sword. They were relying solely on instinct and other fighting experience.

_This human…_Once again Toushirou tried to see beneath the headgear, regretting that he hadn't looked at his opponent before the match. He wanted to know his opponent's face. He wanted to know who he was fighting.

But the shadows from the lighting and the angle of his opponent's head made that impossible. Even with his sharp eyes all he was able to see was a darkness and faint outline of the person's features. He pushed a little harder with his shinai, wanting to force their head up.

"Quit holding back."

Toushirou's eyes widened at the sound of his opponent's voice, sharp and cutting.

"…Shinigami."

Toushirou's breath caught instantly. His opponent forced him back and he stared for a moment, taking a second to comprehend. _What the…_

He gripped his shinai tighter again. How did he know he was holding back? And more importantly…

He released yet another small amount of his reiatsu into his limbs. And he lunged forward, his shinai crashing against theirs for a moment, struggling, but then theirs giving way, almost cracking under the strain. His shinai connected with their shoulder pad. And the judge raised his flag.

Toushirou faintly realized that the people in the hall were cheering wildly. But instead of focusing on the noise, he watched his opponent straighten up from his blow and give a slight bow in his direction. He returned it, meaning it. He still couldn't see under his opponent's headgear. Then they turned on their heel and Toushirou watched them walk for a moment before leaving himself, settling himself again at the edges of the area.

He removed his own mask and took a deep breath of fresh, clean air. It felt good after the stuffiness of the uniform. His eyes immediately went up to his opponent, who had by now also taken their seat. Their hands, surprisingly small, reached up. There was almost a twist of anticipation in his gut as the irritating headgear came loose.

Toushirou felt his eyes widen slightly as he saw the shortish charcoal hair falling from beneath it, closely followed by glinting, steely grey eyes. He swallowed hard as those eyes locked onto him.

Matsumoto slid up beside him. "Oh, a pretty girl!"

Yumichika sidled up as well. "No wonder you were having fun…"

"Shut up you two," Toushirou snapped at them.

His eyes involuntarily flashed back to the young girl to find her staring right back at him. She smirked then, upon finding him looking back, a glint of her smirk reaching her steely eyes and turning them to mercury. The spark of confidence and unwavering self-assurance that was fused into every fiber of her being was showing in those… eyes.

Unconsciously, he gulped and his hands fisted the navy hakama pants that he'd been conned into, his eyes narrowing.

_This girl had reiatsu._

Toushirou tried reaching out with his own, trying to touch hers, but he came up against a wall. A smooth, impossibly thick, tantalizing glass wall. Tantalizing because he could see what was on the other side of it but at the same time being impossible to reach. His eyes widened and she smirked; she had her reiatsu under perfect control. He couldn't even tell the extent of it.

Toushirou barely noticed as the next match began and their one team member began scampering around in circles, trying to avoid getting pounded. Instead Toushirou kept his eyes on her, trying to lift some of the answers from her. The guy, Keigo his name was, got conked on the head and came crawling back onto his cushion.

"Heh!" Toushirou turned his head toward Madarame who was leering at him from five seats down. "You sure struggled pretty hard against that little gi – ARGH!"

Toushirou's eyes didn't widen in the least as Madarame went flying back and blood spurted from his nose, almost expecting what had happened. He turned his head back to his earlier opponent, the girl with the mercury eyes, to find her kneeling forwards with her hand pulled back from tossing her headgear into Madarame's face. "Shut the hell up, Baldy!"

Toushirou almost grinned at that. Almost. His frown returned, stoic as ever. His team member had just been injured by a human; there was nothing funny about the situation. He watched the girl sit back and cross her arms over her own uniform, still glowering and glaring intensely at the floor.

His frown deepened again. She had reiatsu, obviously knew about Shinigami somehow and how strong they were too. And yet she still blatantly attacked one who had insulted her, like she couldn't give a damn. Who the heck was she?

Abarai took the field then but Toushirou paid him little mind, it was obvious who would win in this situation. And then a constricting, suffocating pressure fell onto all of them: A Menos.

"Hollow?" Abarai briefly paused as he also sensed the spiritual pressure, lunging when the ref gave the signal and hitting his opponent just a little too hard, sending them sprawling onto the floor.

Toushirou reached inside his robes to pull out the container of Gikongan that he always kept with him. The container looked ridiculous but it was the actual medicine pill that he needed. The pill fell into his hand easily but before he could raise it to his mouth he felt a stare on him. His eyes immediately fell back onto the girl. Her smirk had vanished to be replaced with a calculating, almost contemplative look.

He kept his blank face in place but inside her fixed grey eyes were making his stomach roll, like she was waiting for something. He swallowed the pill, looking away from the strange girl and briefly closing his eyes as his soul leapt from the constricting gigai.

"Madarame, don't take too long."

He noticed the girl's slight smirk again and his insides turned rock solid and heavy. He needed to get rid of this…_tension_! Mutilating that Menos sounded damn good right now.

Toushirou leapt from the gym roof and overtook Matsumoto on his right, Ayasegawa and Abarai still ahead, having the head start. The Menos was easy to spot, towering above the houses as it was.

"Grow, Houzukimaru!"

Madarame lashed out and drove his spear-form Zanpaktou deep into the Menos's mask, shattering it and sending it crashing to the earth. Toushirou watched silently, not even having needed to draw his own sword. _Damn it…_

"Even though Aizen's been using the Hougyoku to create more Arrancar, all we've been fighting are weaklings." Madarame seemed to have a sudden bright moment then, like his inner blown lightbulb had glowed for a second. "Oh crap, I don't have time for this!" And then he took off running.

Toushirou just sighed once and made his way back more slowly. He was both dreading and anticipating getting back into the hall. But he had to go back there eventually so he might as well get there a little later than Madarame. His gigai could take care of itself for a while. Matsumoto caught up to him.

"So, taicho…"

"What, Matsumoto."

"Why have you been keeping secrets from me?"

Toushirou frowned. "What exactly are you referring to?"

She giggled. "Aw, so cute taicho! You were scared to tell me, right? Because you thought I'd tease you?"

Toushirou stared at his fuku-taicho. "What?"

"You know what I mean, don't pretend otherwise…"

Toushirou was utterly confused. Whatever rubbish the woman was spouting seemed to be sucked right from her thumb. It didn't make any sense!

Matsumoto, catching his slightly annoyed face, sighed once and pouted. "Hmpf, he's not getting it…"

Ayasegawa chose that moment to appear. "Of course not, Rangiku-san. You're not being very clear about this issue."

Abarai fell into step beside them. "What issue?"

"Oh, nothing too much…" Matsumoto grinned devilishly. "Just the fact that…" Toushirou felt her eyes shift onto him and immediately felt uncomfortable. Abarai's eyes also fell onto him now and Toushirou wished he'd hurried up earlier in getting into his gigai again.

"Ah… I see." Abarai nodded once, his eyes knowing, leaving Toushirou feeling all the more stupid.

"Just spit it out already you three."

"Fine then taicho, fine." She giggled once and averted her eyes, turning to Abarai instead. "You noticed it as well then?"

The red-head smirked. "Who wouldn't? I'm pretty sure the whole hall noticed."

Toushirou growled under his breath at his two advance-team members. "You two…"

Ayasegawa sighed once. "Honestly. I didn't think you'd be the type Hitsugaya-taicho."

Toushirou was speedily getting pissed off. "What type?"

Abarai grinned once. "The stalker type."

Toushirou almost fell out of the sky. "WHAT?"

Matsumoto laughed loudly at her taicho's reaction. "Taicho, I didn't think you had it in you. Really, I think you were staring at that girl for at least five minutes back there in the hall."

Toushirou bristled as he _finally _understood what they were talking about. He rounded on them like an enraged shark but his flustered face ruined the whole effect and made him seem more like a gasping guppy.

Toushirou finally found his breath and yelled at the three snickering idiots. "QUIT JUMPING TO STUPID CONCLUSIONS YOU MORONS!"

And with that he disappeared back into the hall, striding towards his gigai and, still fuming, entered back into it.

Absently, Toushirou heard the judge announce, "Karakura has won the goodwill competition of Karakura First District versus Koutei Academy!"

Madarame jumped up and went to argue with the judge, demanding to know where his turn was. Toushirou instead just remained seated on his place, refusing point blank to look up at the girl while Matsumoto was watching. Just then Madarame struck down the judge and the seated last opponent with a vicious attack, knocking the guy's wig clean off his head and giving him a near fatal concussion to boot.

"You!"

"How dare you attack our boss?"

Toushirou sighed and kept his arms folded as the opposing team immediately leapt up with their shinai in hand. Those comments only got Madarame riled up further. "Come on! I'll take you all on at once!"

"Stop it! Stop it!" The judge was frantically trying to break up the fight when it was obvious that with his wobbly double chin and bulging beer-belly he wouldn't stand a chance.

"You've started a war, Ikkaku-san!" Ayasegawa was prancing around all too happily. "I shall also lend my services!"

Toushirou watched all of the commotion from his position on the floor, frowning. No matter how much the judge yelled 'Stop it, stop it!' Madarame wouldn't stop until he was satisfied that all his enemies had at least two fractures and a concussion each.

Suddenly, Toushirou noticed another movement from the corner of his eye. The girl with the mercury eyes was standing up from her place on the floor and dusting her oversized kendo uniform off. He tried to see what her name was from the plate hanging from the front of the armour but it seemed that she'd only borrowed the uniform as it was clearly a boy's name on the front and she was a girl. His eyes followed her as she sighed once and then turned on her heel to leave the room.

Toushirou looked back over at the raging chaos and then stood up as well saying, "This is ridiculous, I'm leaving." And he left the battlefield swiftly, all too aware of Matsumoto's eyes on the back of his neck. He briefly heard the referee yell, "Stop it already!" before Toushirou was out of the warzone and back in the changing rooms. Hurriedly he pulled the awkward uniform off and rushed to dress in his normal clothes again. He glanced out the window to his left and spotted the girl's small figure already heading away from the building, clothed normally again and heading away. Toushirou thought fast. If he took the stairs he'd be too late and the girl would already be gone. That wasn't allowed to happen. She needed to answer some questions first.

"Oi!"

The girl turned her head a moment later to find Toushirou standing behind her. That smirk returned. "Yes, what's the matter, Shinigami?"

Toushirou frowned. "That's the matter."

The girl kept her grin in place. "What?"

Toushirou narrowed his eyes in frustration. He'd risked getting caught by jumping out of the third storey window to catch up to her and she was being silly! "Don't play dumb."

The girl's face cleared as she took a breath and then turned to the side.

Toushirou spoke again when it was obvious that she wouldn't. "How do you know about Shinigami?"

A frown passed the girl's face as she looked away from him, the corners of her moth pulling down slightly with her frown. She crossed her arms. "No reason."

"Don't give me that crap."

The girl turned back to him and suddenly Toushirou felt like he'd been punched in the gut. The force that she was transmitting through those mercury eyes was…

"What's it to you," she stopped and seemed to think for a moment before grinning. "Midget."

Toushirou instantly gritted his teeth. "What'd you say?"

She leaned in closer. "You heard me perfectly well, midget."

Toushirou had to struggle to keep his temper in check. "Stop trying to change the subject!"

The girl didn't back away and Toushirou realized that she was very much up in his personal bubble space. But he refused to back away either. So instead he just tried to glare at her hard enough for her to back away. She didn't. Toushirou tried another approach.

"What's your name?"

Her eyes got a strange glint in them and Toushirou had to stop himself from gulping then. Because she was so uncomfortably close up she'd undoubtedly hear and see it if he did. Her mouth curved upwards in a vaguely familiar smirk. Toushirou's mind tried to remember where he'd seen that expression before. He came up with a blank.

"Well then, I suppose you'll just have to try harder to find out, won't you, midget?"

Toushirou kept his jaw locked from all the insults that that he wanted to spew at her this very moment and only glared at her more. Her own response was to match his glare with her own, both escalating in intensity as they each tried to get the other to back away. It was like they were having an intensified version of a staring contest.

Neither budged.

And then suddenly the girl grinned again, her eyes lighting up and her chin tilting upwards. And before he knew it she was ruffling his hair. Toushirou only gaped for a moment, not quite believing this.

"See you around, middle schooler."

And she turned her back and laughed, waving her hand over her shoulder once before turning the corner and running out of view. And only then did Toushirou's brain start functioning somewhat coherently again. "I AM NOT A MIDDLE SCHOOLER YOU DAMN BRAT!"

The last he heard of her was a scoffing laugh, as though she were telling him, _'Dream on, squirt.'_

_~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_

_**Yet another re-make of a filler Episode! If any of you were wondering, this is the famous and crazy Episode 133! It's brilliant and I love how crazy Ikkaku is in there ^_^ **_

_**Many thanks to Rose Zaki for recommending that particular Episode to me. It's been ages since she actually sent me the message, but I got it done. **_

_**So, Rose Zaki, this one-shot is dedicated to you for your amazing input so I sincerely hope you're reading this. **_

_**Also, many thanks to KazeNoSakura. Thanks for beta-ing this and all my other stories for me! You **__**rule**__**!**_

_**And lastly, I am planning on writing a Chapter 2 for this. I might incorporate more filler episodes into this story-line and the more ideas and input I get, the better the story will be! So, anyone who has any ideas, please send me a message or just mention it in a review. Either will be great! **_

_**Oh… one last thing…**_

_**REVIEW! **_

…_**thanks.**_


	2. Who Doesn't Know!

**A HUGE thank you to my amazing beta, KazeNoSakura. She took time out of her busy schedule to beta this for me so that I could get this second chapter out as quickly as possible. So THANK YOU! **

**I'm sorry if it confuses any of you, but I changed the title. I had originally only planned this as a one-shot and therefore the title was still alright. But then the story-bug bit and I just had to continue writing. So then the title became… odd. It just didn't fit. I'M SORRY IF I CONFUSED YOU! **

**Oh, and the summary changed slightly too, obviously. I should plan these things more… -.-'**

**I hope you enjoy the second chapter! **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [Who Doesn't Know]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I think he's cracked."

"More like obsessed."

"You think? I was going more along the lines of… fascinated."

"Same thing, ain't it?"

"It is?"

"Who cares?" Matsumoto puffed her cheeks out and frowned. "The point is that taicho has to get back on track! Honestly, he'd be forgetting his own head if it wasn't screwed on!"

Yumichika ran a few fingers through his hair. "But then again, Rangiku-san, you're not really able to talk. What with your ugly habit of being so scatterbrained."

A resounding crack of a hard object meeting skull shut him up instantly, and Matsumoto crossed her arms over her stomach and looked up at the ceiling a little distantly. "But… I'm honestly getting a little worried."

Ikkaku glanced at her. "About the taicho?"

She nodded once and a silence filled the room for a moment. Renji sighed and scratched his head once. "I wonder if his behaviour has anything to do with…"

Renji didn't finish his sentence but the implied ending hung in the air. That short girl with the cropped black hair from two days ago wasn't easy to forget. Madarame was still nursing a bruise from the headgear that had earned him a nosebleed back then. But aside from having incredible upper-arm strength, she had also been able to hold her own against a taicho in a mock-fight. Given that taicho had been in a gigai and holding back, but she had nevertheless managed to block a strike from a professional when it was apparent that she had been uncomfortable holding a sword.

Renji frowned. "I wonder what she's doing now."

"What's this Renji? Getting curious about her yourself now, ey?" Ikkaku gave him a leer and Renji's temper grew a little shorter. "Shut up, Ikkaku! Don't tell me you're not curious yourself!"

The bald warrior switched his gaze to the ceiling then, frowning. "Just a bit. For a girl she sure had some fight in her."

Yumichika smiled. "Agreed. I suppose I can see why the taicho is interested in her, don't you think, Rangiku-san?"

Matsumoto gave a soft smile as her only response. She was a little sorry that she'd teased her little taicho about being a stalker on their way back to the hall after killing that Menos. That had been the first girl that he'd shown any semblance of interest in, and then she'd turned things awkward by bringing up the fact about how he'd been staring.

She blinked once then and snapped her fingers. "Hey, did anyone ever catch that girl's name?"

Looks were tossed about the room as blank stares were exchanged. Matsumoto sighed again and leant her head back against the room's wall. "Aw… I could have had some fun there. I haven't done matchmaking in a while now."

Renji shuddered as he remembered Matsumoto's last attempt at matchmaking… His poor taicho. Byakuya had retreated into his office for a week straight!

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Toushirou growled threateningly at his pen before scrunching yet another sheet of paper in his fist and lobbing it into the overflowing trashcan in the corner. This was getting silly. No, it had passed 'silly' when his theories had included "secret organization" and "conspiracy against Soul Society". Was his lack of sleep really getting to him that badly? He was honestly more than a little frustrated with himself. He was a captain of the Soul Society and here he was obsessing over a little human girl?

Toushirou sighed and collected his thoughts, pinching the bridge of his nose. The only facts that he had were that she looked around 12 years old, seemed to have practiced hand-to-hand combat, had reiatsu and knew what Shinigami were. He glanced out the window of Inoue's vacant apartment. She and Kuchiki Rukia were off training in the Soul Society right now, therefore leaving him and his team alone in the real world. Come to think of it, that Quincy boy had disappeared as well and Kurosaki's huge reiatsu had vanished literally overnight.

As far as he knew, the only human he could locate was Sado Yasutora. Abarai was training with him in the underground cellar of the Urahara Shoten during most of his free time whilst the candy-shop owner watched from behind his fan.

Toushirou frowned once. Everyone else was busy training and he was sitting, thinking up theories on how a human girl knew about Shinigami? He had to find some way to train… Too bad he couldn't use the underground training room. But even if he could use it; who would he train against? Madarame and Ayasegawa were most certainly not interested. Abarai was already busy and Matsumoto was too lazy.

Toushirou rubbed his temples. There was a slight migraine creeping up on him as he stared at the paper in front of him. There were only two days to go before he had to give a report to the sou-taicho. If there was a human in the living world who was spiritually gifted that the Soul Society had been unaware of before, it was only right for him to mention her to them. Toushirou's jaw tightened slightly as he remembered that he had almost no information on her. And he wasn't going to give a report on something or someone that he knew almost nothing about.

He couldn't train right now and he needed more information for his report... At least he now had a way to pass the time.

Opening the door to the adjoining room, he walked in to find all four of his subordinates lounging about, obviously bored.

"Taicho?"

He crossed his arms and looked about. "We're leaving."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Matsumoto glanced worriedly at her captain. Maybe he _was _going crazy. "Taicho?"

"What?" he sounded irritable.

She bit her lower lip a little, wondering how to phrase her next question without him blowing up at her. But since she couldn't think of a way, she let it drop for the moment. "Nothing."

Toushirou paid little mind to her as he looked at his subordinates gathered before him. "You all got that?" he asked, continuing his earlier instructions.

Four somewhat hesitant nods were given.

"Move out."

On Toushirou's order, everyone took off in a different direction. He too left, using shunpo to move quickly. When he had gathered everyone earlier, it had been half past one. So if he moved fast enough he'd still be able to catch the school children coming out.

Toushirou came to a halt on the top of a telephone post overlooking Karakura District A's Middle School. He gave it a once-over, confirming to himself that it was still filled with students. From the looks of the deserted playgrounds, it was lesson time. Toushirou hoped that it was their last lesson; he didn't want to be stuck outside the school for ages.

He had sent Ayasegawa and Madarame to neighbouring schools just outside of town whilst Matsumoto checked another smaller school. He had taken the largest one since this would give him the largest chance of finding her again and hence finding out all of the information that he needed much faster.

A shrill siren made him straighten up; the horrible noise was obviously the end-of-day bell since shortly afterwards floods of children all clad in the same light grey uniform filed out. Toushirou narrowed his eyes. If he remembered correctly, the first time that he'd seen the girl was right after she'd chased off those four bullies and helped that little kid. And he vaguely remembered her wearing a grey jacket, though he wasn't quite sure. He hadn't really paid much mind to what she had been wearing at the time.

His eyes flicked over to a figure in the midst of the thinning crowd. A slight, smallish figure with pitch black hair.

_Found her._

Without a second thought, Toushirou leapt from the post and lightly landed beside the main school gate, waiting for her to inevitably pass by them. He could have simply watched her from above, but then he wouldn't have been able to hear anything. He for one needed her name if he was going to give a half-way decent report to the sou-taicho and he wasn't going to learn it by standing on the top of a pole so far away. He frowned slightly to himself. He could have hidden… but there was a part of him that was stubbornly arguing against his rational side. He wanted to see if she could really see him without his gigai. If she couldn't, then her reiatsu wasn't high enough for that. Toushirou scowled a little. He had no idea of the extent of her reiatsu thanks to that perfectly irritating barrier that she'd put up around herself! Two days ago during that stupid Kendo tournament, he had barely been able to detect that she even had reiatsu, let alone give an estimate of its size. She could have barely any for that matter.

Or…

Toushirou glanced up as a young girl's voice came closer, chattering away merrily. He spotted a girl, also not very tall, with light brown hair and brown eyes smiling warmly at _her_. He narrowed his eyes. Maybe if he listened he'd be able to catch _her _name.

"…tonight. I think we still have a packet of soup thickener in the cupboard and there should still be some chicken and vegetables left, though I think we're out of carrots. And we're low on salt and milk too."

Toushirou watched the girl with the black hair stretch a little, lifting her arms behind her head and gripping onto the handle of a plain school bag tightly before relaxing the muscles in her arms again and bringing them to rest at her sides. Toushirou noticed that her muscles in her arms were very well developed. Subtle, but tough.

"I'll go to the store quickly then."

The light haired girl glanced up. "Really? But don't you have soccer training with the guys again today?"

Toushirou watched as they continued to come closer, both still not paying him the slightest attention. Perhaps she _couldn't _see him.

"Nah. Those jerks dumped me for some boys-only weekend training camp. Idiots, the lot of them. So I'll run by the store quickly. It'll give me a chance to loosen up before I check in with the others."

The brown eyed girl nodded once, understanding, before handing over a list. "Well then, I guess here's everything that we need for supper. Make sure you drop everything off in time, alright?"

Looking a little bored, Toushirou watched the black haired girl take the list. "Sure sure."

The brown haired girl puffed her cheeks out. "Don't be so flippant! We need the milk or else the stew won't turn out right!"

"Oh calm down, Yuzu."

So the light brown haired one's name was 'Yuzu'. Now if this Yuzu would only say _her _name.

Yuzu started waving her arms around wildly. "Just listen to me for once! Don't lose the list, you hear? If you do I'll be upset! Very upset! Because then I can't…" Yuzu's protests slowed and stopped suddenly as her brown eyes fell onto Toushirou.

Toushirou tensed slightly. There was no doubt that the Yuzu girl was looking at him. But why was she looking at him? Did she have reiatsu too?

The two girls were right up alongside him now between the pillars of the gate where he was standing. The brown-haired girl gave a slight smile. "Hi there."

Toushirou had to blink once. She was definitely seeing him. He just nodded in response and looked towards the black haired girl again. She was obstinately studying the list in her hand, scanning down the items on it.

The brown-eyed girl took a step towards him and gave a slight smile whilst holding a finger to her chin. "Hm… are you Zennosuke-san's replacement?" Toushirou felt somewhat confused at her statements as she continued to peer curiously at him. "But then again, Zennosuke-san was still here yesterday and he didn't say anything about getting replaced. And you're wearing a white haori. So that means you're a captain." Toushirou's eyes widened a little. "And I doubt they'd send a captain to be the resident Shinigami in Karakura."

Toushirou was staring at the girl by now. Just how much did this human girl know? And why was the black haired girl still not looking at him?

As though reading his thoughts, she glanced up and looked at him with her mercury eyes. Toushirou's muscles involuntarily tensed as though preparing him for some form of onslaught, though he highly doubted she was about to attack him. Maybe he was just a little paranoid about her. The girl seemed a little skeptic about him herself, tossing him a somewhat curious glance before sighing once and folding the list into her pocket. "You again?"

Toushirou felt like growling. "What of it?"

She gave him a sideways look, staring him down again and Toushirou glared back, the air charging between them and making Yuzu glance back and forth uneasily. Toushirou felt like they'd just continued their staring contest from two days prior. Good thing Matsumoto wasn't here. And this…_girl_! It was like she was pushing all of his buttons without even trying! She'd hardly even said anything and he was already annoyed with her! Was she out to get him or something? Toushirou gritted his teeth as he held her glare.

The black haired girl turned away first and Toushirou noticed her hair swinging around her jaw line.

"Come on, Yuzu. We shouldn't hang around Shinigami for too long."

Toushirou continued his stare whilst Yuzu gave a small pout. "Moh… Fine then." The two girls walked right past him then and Toushirou glared at their backs. Actually, only _her _back because in her cocky attitude she was mocking him! Sneering at him and antagonizing him! And she was doing it on purpose! He knew she was!

As he watched her round the nearby corner, he ground his teeth together. _That brat…_

"Hitsugaya-taicho!"

Toushirou turned his head as the red-head landed beside him. "Abarai."

"I've got news, taicho! Big news!"

The white-haired taicho frowned slightly. "News?"

"Yeah! The school that you sent me to look over was right next door to Karakura High where Ichigo goes! And while I was waiting outside the gate four people ran up to me!"

Toushirou's eyes widened. _Four _people?

"Well actually," Renji laughed slightly whilst rubbing his jaw. "Only three of them ran up to me. The fourth one punched me in the face. That chick's got some spunk."

Toushirou massaged his temples. So in addition to the black-haired fury from two days earlier, there were now an extra five people who could see Shinigami. Oh, perfect. Now he'd have to find information on them as well.

"Abarai, go find Matsumoto, Madarame and Ayasegawa. Each of you take one of the humans and find out about them. Report back to Inoue-san's apartment at eight."

"Got it." Abarai nodded and jumped up into the air again, heading towards Matsumoto's reiatsu. Toushirou narrowed his eyes and focused. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just make out that girl's reiatsu about five blocks down.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Eggs, milk, carrots, annoying-shinigami-taicho still on her tail… yup, she had everything. Karin sighed once silently to herself whilst she replaced Yuzu's list in her pocket. She was just lucky that Yuzu had modified her uniform skirt to accommodate one. Karin couldn't stand having to carry everything around in her hands all the time. She needed those free.

Karin spotted a colorful package on the top shelf and grinned. Those were Yuzu's favourite crunchy ginger cookies. Mentally she did a quick calculation. Yes, there would still be enough change leftover from the other items to buy the cookies. Unfortunately, the cookies were right on the top shelf on a very large rack. Karin scowled as she studied the shelving. There was no way that it would hold her weight without collapsing.

Of course, there was another way to get those cookies. The question was just if she was willing to try it. The jump itself wasn't the problem for her. It was just the fact that normal humans shouldn't be able to jump that high from a standing position and also awkward since she had a spectator two aisles down. Damn Shinigami… always making things complicated…

"Oi! Karin!"

Karin turned her head towards the sound of that voice. As expected, a short girl dressed in a red tracksuit with blonde hair and blunt fangs peeking over her lower lip stood at the end of her aisle with her arms crossed and her trademark scowl on her face.

"Oi, Hiyori."

The blonde's mouth turned downward. "What's with that crappy greeting? Someone steal 'yer lunch?"

Karin grimaced slightly. "Shut up already. I'm not in the mood to argue."

"Eh? That so?" Hiyori started strolling down the aisle with her arms linked behind her head. "And I went to all the trouble of getting a gigai too. These things are annoying you know!"

"No I don't since I've never had to wear a gigai, Hiyori." Karin threw the shorter blonde a grin.

"Shut it already! What is it with you and your smart-ass comments? I'm gonna kick your butt!"

Karin leant forward then, smiling. "Really now? In that case I can't wait for later!"

"You betcha! I've got the urge to fight someone with some real backbone for a change! I'mma gonna beat you black and blue!"

Karin's smile only widened and met the shorter girl's challenging stare. Hiyori straightened up as Karin did and gave a satisfied grin. The mutual silent agreement to go all-out later satisfied them for now. The blonde glanced up at the cookies for a moment before briefly checking over her shoulder and jumping up lightly to retrieve the pack. "Here. You wanted these for Yuzu-chan, right?"

"Yup." Karin slid them into the basket with the other groceries. "I figured I'd surprise her."

Hiyori nodded as they headed off towards the tills and Karin turned her dark eyes on the shorter one. "So, why'd you come out here anyway?"

Hiyori shrugged. "Had to get away from baldy. Honestly, that carrot-top is pathetic at this! Almost two weeks and he's still only able to hold it for 8 seconds! That's so sad I wanna pound him!"

Karin let the basket at her side swing a little as she stared upwards thoughtfully. "I wonder what's wrong though. Maybe he has some sort of mental block against it…"

"Who cares?" Hiyori huffed irritably. "Whatever the reason, he sucks. And it's making me go crazy too! So I snuck out for a bit."

Karin nodded once. "I'll be along later today after I drop this off by Yuzu so she can make dinner."

Hiyori nodded once. "Just hurry up, squirt. I've got a lot of anger that needs venting."

"Don't think I'll just lay back and be a punching bag. I've got plenty of frustration to let loose too."

Hiyori sent Karin a grin from beside her and then turned her head to the side. "By the way…" she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "We've got a peeking cabbage rack over there."

Karin just nodded as she picked up a jar of pickles. "Yeah, I know. He's been following me ever since school came out."

Instantly, and within two long bounds, Hiyori was towering above the nearby vegetables, thrusting her hand behind the crates and grabbing something by its collar and yanking a very startled Toushirou out into the open.

Hiyori exploded. "You disgusting little vermin! What do you think you're doing spying on girls like that? What are you, trying to get yourself labeled as a stalker or something? If I didn't know better, I'd say you've done this before!" Hiyori gave him a harsh, neck dislocating shake. "Hiding behind vegetables is pathetic, you baldy! I'll tell you something, idiot! No decent gentleman goes around following a lady like you're doing right now because that's just low and disgusting and way too creepy! You're just lucky Karin wasn't in a bad mood today or she would have beaten you up by now-"

Karin looked up from her pickle jar. "Hiyori."

"-knock you off your high horse! For a moment I thought you were just a kid pretending to be a captain but then no captain or kid would go around stalking some innocent twelve year old!"

"Hiyori."

"Or any girl for that matter, you sick jerk! I have a good mind to tell you what I think of you-"

"Hiyori!"

"WHAT?" Hiyori finally stopped shaking Toushirou long enough to look at Karin who was still holding the jar of pickles.

Karin just looked annoyed. "Stop yelling. You look like a lunatic."

Hiyori's eyebrow twitched. "I'll yell all I want! Who are you to tell me to shut up? I'm telling this guy off for his bad manners here!"

Karin stared at Hiyori skeptically. "Hey, I've got no problem with that. It's just that he's not in a gigai."

Hiyori blinked once, letting that sink in for a moment, and then looking back at a simmering Toushirou glaring at her in his Shinigami uniform.

"Mommy, mommy, look! That weird girl is yelling at the air!"

Hiyori blinked at the smiling little girl before her anxious mother hurried her along, sending worried glances back at Hiyori.

She blinked once. "Oh."

Toushirou wrenched himself free of Hiyori's grip. "Will you just shut up? I was not stalking anybody!"

Before Hiyori was able to go off on another rant, Karin cut her off. "Really? And I guess you wanted to do some shopping here in your soul form, right?"

Toushirou felt his face heat up as Karin's mercury eyes bore into his. Again that need to swallow presented itself but he stubbornly pushed it away. Toushirou huffed and looked away. "Fine. I followed you."

"And what for? If you really are a taicho, shouldn't you have better things to do with your time?" Karin stepped closer so that she was just a step away from him.

Toushirou kept his eyes averted, her advancing was making him somewhat uncomfortable. True, he was a taicho, and there were other things that he could be doing. Like training. But that issue still hadn't been resolved. And otherwise, he really couldn't think of anything else that he could be doing instead. There were the odd forms or briefings that he could be finishing off… but those were nothing that he couldn't deal with later. At least, that's what he reasoned.

He shifted his eyes back to her to find her still staring at him unperturbed and he closed his eyes for a moment before answering. "Not really."

Karin continued to stare at him, silently demanding a better explanation. Toushirou could feel that she was expecting more and unwillingly faced her again. "It's not every day that we find six humans with the ability to see Shinigami, that's all. Although," he glanced at Hiyori standing beside Karin. "From the looks of things, I'd have to say that there are more than just six of you."

Karin's eyes narrowed at him and Hiyori spoke up then. "So what's it to you?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about." Toushirou replied, trying to make his voice sound levelled.

Karin could feel Hiyori seething beside her and hurriedly stepped in to prevent another full-blown rant. "I think we need to know." Karin held his eyes steadily. "What are you planning to do with this information?"

Toushirou locked eyes with her and met the full force of them head-on. He almost buckled. "That's none of your business."

A gust of wind stirred the still air around them as a fourth reiatsu presence appeared just beside them.

"I think it is."

Toushirou turned to catch a glimpse of a tall, gangly blonde man with over-prominent teeth leering down at him before a splitting pain erupted from the base of his skull, knocking the sight from his eyes and turning everything black. Vaguely, Toushirou felt himself hitting the shop floor, recognizing the signs of passing out.

That Hiyori girl's voice sounded above him. "Oh, nice shot there Karin."

Karin… So that's what that girl's name was.

It had a nice ring to it.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

**OMAKE:**

**SMACK!**

**The shoe connecting smartly with Renji's face sent the red-head bowling over onto the pavement.**

**"There's the Shinigami! Get him! He'll tell us what we want to know!"**

**Two sets of hands grabbed him and roughly shoved him further into the dirty sidewalk. Renji could feel some gum rubbing into the back of his neck. Ick.**

**"Um… Arisawa-san…"**

**"WHAT?"**

**"Is it really necessary to use duct tape?"**

**Renji's eyes popped open. A fierce and scary girl with black hair and a maniac grin wielding a full roll of tape was leering down at him in glee. Renji began thrashing and the girl yelled, "Asano! Get his arms!"**

**"But…"**

**"Now, Asano! Or I'll tie you down next!"**

**Renji's arms were promptly pinned down. Overpowered by some humans. How degrading.**

**"Chizuru! I told you to get Mizuiro!"**

**Renji lashed out and Keigo went flying a couple of meters. Tatsuki fumed. "Hey! I needed him to hold you down!"**

**"Like hell I'm letting you lunatics keep me down! Get the heck off me!" Renji tried to squirm away.**

**"Shut it, Pineapple!"**

**WHACK!**

**A long interrogation session later, Renji left with an aching jaw.**


	3. You're Kidding Me, Right?

**Once again, thanks to KazeNoSakura for getting this done so quickly and another thanks goes to TheLadyIntegra for reading through this and giving me extra pointers. You're both amazing!**

**Now, enjoy Chapter 3! ^_^ **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [You're kidding Me, Right?] **

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Something was poking him. Toushirou vaguely acknowledged this fact whilst still struggling to mentally drag himself from this abyss that his consciousness had been plunged into.

Slowly, he was beginning to regain some semblance of feeling in his detached body. He could twitch his fingers.

"Oh Kensei! It moved, it moved!"

Toushirou heard a dismissive male voice give a mutter before the sound of shifting bodies followed. Once again a hard, intruding object jabbed into his flesh below his ribcage and Toushirou managed a scowl before prying his eyes open. He immediately regretted it and squeezed them tightly closed again, trying to get rid of the harsh, bright light.

"Look-ee look-ee! I think it's waking up!"

"Shut it, Mashiro."

Through his fluttering eyelids, Toushirou caught sight of a flash of painfully bold green before a face pried right into his own, big eyes blinking curiously at him for a moment. Another finger jabbed him. "Ne ne, what's yer name, whitey?"

Although still drowsy, Toushirou managed a scowl of annoyance towards the face before it was suddenly yanked away. Toushirou turned his head and felt coarse sand and little rocks scrape against his cheek and stirring the dust around his head.

Standing above him, holding an odd girl with lime green hair clad in a mostly-white jumpsuit by her orange scarf was another man with grayish-silver hair and skeptic eyes. Toushirou held his gaze for a moment before breaking eye-contact and forcing his muscles to push him to kneel back on his heels. At least like this he was able to react faster if the situation were to turn bad.

Toushirou noticed the absence of a familiar weight on his back and reached up with his right hand to feel the empty space behind his head. Hyorinmaru wasn't there. Toushirou narrowed his eyes. That was not good.

"Oh, has our guest awakened from Karin-chan's sleeping remedy yet?"

Toushirou's eyes fell upon an excessively dressed man with blonde hair falling to his lower back and a sort of refined face that seemed the typical stereotype of a man who appreciated fine wine and good music.

The man stopped a few good paces away from him on the other side of a gold translucent shield that Toushirou was quick to notice enclosed him completely in a fairly large square box. He gingerly probed the golden box around him with his reiatsu.

"Don't bother."

Toushirou looked up to the tall man still holding the bouncy young woman by her orange scarf. He had a bored look on his face whilst glancing down at Toushirou.

"Hacchi's barriers are incredibly powerful. You can't break them, even if you are a captain."

Toushirou's eyes narrowed. Another one who knew?

The green-haired girl began to kick up a fuss, waving her arms wildly and kicking her legs like a toddler would when throwing a tantrum over a new toy that he wasn't getting. Toushirou watched silently as the larger man yelled shortly at the girl before turning promptly on his heel, stalking over to the barrier and chucking her through a rectangular opening that had appeared a moment before. The blonde man on the other side smiled down kindly at the green-haired girl lying in a heap at the base of a nearby rock. Toushirou noticed another man in a turquoise tracksuit with a black afro hairstyle sitting atop of it with a book in his hands, seemingly uninterested in what was happening.

"Kensei-san."

The voice came from behind Toushirou and he turned to check for the owner. His eyes widened somewhat in a mixture of awe and wonder. A large, mostly round man in a plain light green suit and pink hair sat cross-legged on the dusty floor on the outside of the barrier. He was looking calmly at the man with the grey hair whom Toushirou now assumed to be named 'Kensei'.

"What, Hacchi?"

The large man spoke in a measured tone directed at Kensei. "You are the only other person with the Shinigami taicho inside the barrier now. Are you sure that is wise?"

Hacchi's voice had no accusations attached to it and Toushirou, despite being talked about in this fashion, found that he couldn't hold anything against the large man.

Kensei shrugged. "Not really. But right now he doesn't really have much of a reason to hate me, so I don't think he'll go attacking me anytime soon."

Toushirou returned his gaze onto the tall man as he finally stood up straight. He knew of course that this wouldn't really help him in the least to make any sort of impression since he wasn't exactly tall, but standing up made it easier to put up a decent defense, even if his sword was missing. "No reason to hate you?" Toushirou asked. "Judging by this barrier around me I'd say you're holding me prisoner."

Kensei raised an eyebrow. "Eh? Guess you're right there. But it's not like you're gonna be here forever. Shinji's just gonna come over here in a bit to set things straight. I've got nothing to do with any old Shinigami."

Toushirou narrowed his eyes as Kensei turned his back and, after stopping for a moment at the barrier, exited through the rectangular space that Toushirou caught a glimpse of Hacchi opening.

Toushirou scowled at the golden energy and walked over to it, placing a hand against its smooth surface. That Kensei was right; there was no way he was breaking out of this. He looked up and onto the other side of the barrier and sighed silently. Even if he did somehow manage to break the barrier, there were plenty of people on the other side that he was sure weren't living humans. In fact, none of them seemed to be wearing any sort of gigai and were simply in soul form. They weren't simple Plus souls since none of the people that he'd seen had any chains hanging from their chests. That meant that they had to be souls sent over to Soul Society. So then why were they in the World of the Living? As far as he could tell, both of the people who had been inside the barrier with him, Kensei and the green-haired girl, had a decent amount of reiatsu, though he had been unable to judge just how much. They too had certain precautions set up around their reiatsu, making it difficult for him to give an estimate of its size. Toushirou frowned. But their barriers were not nearly as perfect as that girl's…

A knock sounded to his right and Toushirou's head snapped up whilst his eyes widened. _Speak of the devil. _Standing on the other side of the translucent golden barrier with a bemused expression on her face, was that girl. Karin, Toushirou recalled her name was. He looked at her young, childish face bearing a subtle hint of a smile and her pitch black unruly hair. Yes, the name definitely suited her.

She knocked on the barrier again, creating a dampened and hollow kind of banging sound on his side, making the barrier seem like a sheet of thick glass. He felt a swell of irritation inside him as she knocked again and said in a slow and loud voice, "Hello? Can. You. Hear. Me. In. There?"

He felt like she was making fun of his hearing. She knocked again and his temper snapped. "Will you stop your knocking? Of course I can hear you! You're making me feel like a goldfish in here!"

Her hand froze, hovering above the glass for a moment before that grin settled back onto her face and she let her knuckles rap smartly against the barrier one last time, making a vein throb in his forehead. She gave a short barking laugh and withdrew her hand, placing it instead onto her hip. "So, how you holding up in there?"

Toushirou wanted to grind his teeth at her innocent question. "Isn't that pretty obvious?"

She shifted her weight onto her other leg as she shrugged. "Not really. You're a pretty taciturn guy. The only expression you give is probably a 'get-outta-my-face' kind of vibe. Do you ever smile?"

Now he really did grind his teeth. "Not often."

She tilted her head to the side, giving him a curious look. "So what's your name?"

Toushirou kept quiet for a moment and she sighed. "Guess you're not gonna tell-"

"Hitsugaya Toushirou."

Karin's eyes flickered back to him instantly and he could easily read the surprise on her face. Perhaps she really hadn't expected him to tell her. Truth be told, he hadn't expected to tell her either. Why he had gone and revealed his identity to the enemy was bemusing even to himself.

She seemed thoughtful for a moment before giving him a long hard stare, immediately making him uncomfortable beneath her scrutiny. He felt like his stomach was struggling to tie itself into a knot and it was making him uneasy. He refused to back down from the silent challenge though and stubbornly held her glare, however difficult it was. Couldn't she just look away dammit?

Finally. Her smile got wider and her near-black eyes melted into the same mercury from before. His stare finally flickered away. She gave a short hum and linked her arms behind her head. "Ah well. Hacchi?"

"Yes?"

Karin gave the round man a smile. "Can you let Toushirou out of your barrier? I don't think he'll be running away anytime soon."

Toushirou caught his breath in surprise. What was this girl doing? No matter what the situation, you couldn't just let a prisoner go free, especially not if they had seen things and gotten information! And why did she think it was alright for her to speak to him so casually? Though he couldn't say that reprimanding the little human girl on etiquette was in the foreground of his thoughts right now.

Hacchi remained quiet for a moment, appearing thoughtful. He raised a pudgy hand to his double chin. "I suppose there could be no harm. He cannot leave the building in the first place due to my other barrier around the perimeter, so I see no problem with him roaming the training grounds. However, I would first have to get Shinji's permission…"

"No need."

Karin's head turned up towards the voice and Toushirou followed her stare, his own eyes landing upon the same tall and gangly blonde with the huge teeth that had briefly showed up in that store. Karin raised a hand. "Oi, Shinji."

He smiled widely, showing off his huge grin. "Hello, Karin-chan! You're looking particularly sparkly today!"

Karin scowled. "Shut it, horse-teeth."

A hurt look flashed across his features for a moment before he clutched a hand to his chest, mock-gripping his heart. "Now-now Karin-chan… that really hurt my feelings."

"No it didn't. You're just saying that."

Toushirou watched the tall blonde lift a cap a little further off his eyes to peer down at them better before jumping off the cliff that he was perched on. He landed with a small puff of dust beneath his leather loafers in front of Karin and grinned at her before glancing over at Toushirou. Toushirou leveled him a stare and Shinji lifted his chin a little. "Heh, you really found yourself a hot-head here Karin-chan."

The next moment Shinji was nursing a broken nose courtesy of Karin's fist. "Don't get the wrong idea, baldy."

Shinji clamped the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop the blood from ruining his dress shirt. "Sumtymz I zink zat yoo spend too much tym wiz Hiyori."

Toushirou blinked a few times before Shinji turned serious again and nodded once at the round man. "Go ahead Hacchi."

"Yes."

And with a snap of the large man's fingers, the golden wall vanished and Toushirou was looking at Karin and Shinji without the golden tint.

Karin stretched out her arms and unwillingly Toushirou found himself noticing the toned muscles beneath her taught skin. If her arms were this well trained…

And suddenly he noticed something else too. Without the barrier in his way Toushirou was able to sense everything much easier, letting him notice that something was slightly off about the human girl. He stiffened slightly at realizing what it was: this human was not in a gigai. His eyes flickered over to her chest only to find no chain attached there. Yet, as he watched her, she was definitely in Soul Form. Was she a Shinigami? He couldn't see any Zanpaktou on her. Was she hiding it?

A ground shaking crash closely followed by a yell of pain and an eruption of dust brought everyone's attention to focus on a small figure in a red tracksuit and blonde hair standing in the air. "Whassa' matter baldy? Is that seriously the best you can do?"

Toushirou recognized the obnoxious voice of the short blonde girl from the store but couldn't see who she was yelling at. Karin had called her Hiyori back there.

Karin sighed once. "I guess I'll go step in before Hiyori kills that idiot." And before Toushirou could even process what was going on, Karin had vanished before his eyes, reappearing in the air above the blonde girl and swinging her heel down towards her skull.

Shinji spoke up then in an even and quiet voice, oddly serious for the time being. "Very nice… Karin-chan's mastered Shunpo quite well indeed."

Toushirou's throat suddenly felt rather tight as Shinji continued to speak. "In actual fact, she's done pretty well in her training all-round."

"Shinji, right?" Toushirou asked.

"Yeah. What of it?"

Toushirou was silent for a moment before he looked back to the two blurs flashing between rocks and cliffs. In the moments during which Karin and Hiyori's blows met he was able to see them more clearly than when they were moving about. "What is she?"

There was a pause between the two in which time Hiyori flipped to avoid a kick from Karin, whose foot connected with granite instead, showering the people below with debris.

"What is she?" Shinji repeated Toushirou's question. "Who knows? Maybe if you're lucky and you carry on watching you'll find out."

The indirect answer frustrated him a bit, but Toushirou kept his temper in check. Watching this fight was also quickly becoming engrossing to him.

"Toushirou?"

An annoying voice always filled with blatant disrespect and audacity shattered the spectacle and Toushirou clenched his fists as he fought down the urge to explode at the orange haired menace. "It's Hitsugaya-taicho to you, Kurosaki!"

For the moment, he completely forgot to be surprised at seeing the MIA substitute Shinigami in this shady place and only glowered at him. However, being the annoying teenager that he was, Ichigo merely brushed aside the snappy retort and walked closer, his ridiculously huge sword tossed over his shoulder and his face confused. "What are you doing here?"

Toushirou wanted to ask the same thing but held his tongue for the moment. "I was kidnapped." He ground out.

Ichigo blinked a few times before grinning hugely and turning towards Shinji. "So you kidnapped this stiff Hirako? Hah, nice job!" He formed a thumbs-up.

Shinji just gave Ichigo a withering look. "Dumbass. As if I'd go out and abduct a captain, even a mini one."

Toushirou growled and Ichigo quickly withdrew his thumb. "Eh? Then why's he here?"

Shinji jerked his own thumb over to the fight going on between Karin and Hiyori. "Karin's the one who knocked him out. I just dragged him along. No real choice in the matter though so…"

Ichigo looked over to the two as well. "Ah… Wonder why she'd do that." Then he frowned. "But damn it… She just cut right into my training time. And I was just getting warmed up too."

Shinji gave a mocking laugh. "You've been at it for six hours, idiot! That's one hell'uva long time to warm up."

Ichigo quickly got annoyed. "Shut up Hirako. Hiyori ditched me earlier as well to go meet up with Karin in that store."

Toushirou listened up. From what Kurosaki was saying, it sounded as though he had only been missing for a few hours so far. Being unconscious and without daylight to give an estimate, he had no concept of time anymore.

At the exact same moment, both Ichigo and Shinji's heads snapped over towards the fight, their eyes trained intensely on the action. Toushirou could almost feel the change in atmosphere in the room go from laid back to alert.

"Here we go," Shinji muttered.

And then the breath was knocked from Toushirou's lungs at the unexpected force of the dense, dark reiatsu weighing down on the air. His eyes wide, Toushirou could make out Hiyori and Karin standing opposite of one another, their stances aggressive and eager, their faces covered. Suffocating reiatsu charged his nerves and he felt himself becoming numb again. His breath caught in his throat and he felt strangled.

_No… way…_

In the air, the two girls lunged again, Hiyori's sword swinging round and Karin ducking her head to avoid it. She punched and Hiyori blocked, Karin kicked and Hiyori swung her sword, nicking Karin's sleeve whilst she jumped and smashed her palm into the space between Hiyori's shoulder blades.

Toushirou stood, both fascinated and horrified, torn between the two as either emotion fought inside him for dominance of his view. _This wasn't happening. This wasn't even possible. _

The girl's fight continued, their attacks backed by incredible force and their speed pushed on by massive reiatsu. And then a bright red cero shot from the short blonde girl's mouth, forcing Karin to make a hasty withdrawal and put a lot of distance between them.

Toushirou's eyes were wide, his breath stopped and his skin pricked with cold yet he was sweating. _A cero. That blonde Hiyori girl had shot a cero. A hollow technique. What in the world was going on?_

The two figures in the air skidded to a stand-still and remained frozen there for a heartbeat before both relaxing their stances and slipping into casual positions again, all aggressiveness gone. Within one shunpo step they were a mere few meters away from Toushirou, Shinji and Ichigo on the dusty floor of the room.

Toushirou stared transfixed at Karin as the little human girl reached a hand up to her face and casually slipped the stark white hollow mask to the side of her head.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Matsumoto anxiously paced the room, her eyes flicking over to the door every so often.

"Relax, Matsumoto. I'm sure he'll show up any minute now."

Matsumoto rounded on the red-head leaning casually against Inoue's counter-top with the fierceness of an angered lioness. "And what about his reiatsu? It just disappeared! Poof! Gone! Taicho's reiatsu doesn't just go 'poof'!"

"Maybe he just needed to hide it?" Yumichika suggested.

Matsumoto turned to look at him then and he raised his hands defensively. "I'm just saying. If he found that girl and suddenly had to mask his reiatsu for some reason it might very well be so well hidden that we can't detect him anymore, Rangiku-san."

Matsumoto took a shaky breath and ran a hand through her hair. She knew Yumichika was trying to rationalize with her and he actually put up a pretty good argument; but right now she wasn't going to be comforted. Her taicho's reiatsu… its disappearance had unsettled her too much.

Ikkaku was slouched over the lumpy couch in the corner. "Still can't believe he had us all stalking human schools to find her though."

"And it's not even like we even found anybody." Yumichika supplied.

Renji looked over to the two skeptically. "Seriously? I found, like, four."

Matsumoto's attention was momentarily diverted as she listened to Renji continue. "They turned out to be four of Ichigo's friends from school." He absently rubbed his jaw.

Matsumoto frowned a little. Perhaps her taicho did have some basis for sending them all off to look for that girl. Thinking about her now, Matsumoto had to admit that it was odd for a little girl like that to be able to see Shinigami. That coupled with the fact that she seemed to have instantly captured her taicho's attention, Matsumoto had to also admit that the girl was attractive in her own way. Matsumoto couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she could sort of see why her little captain would be interested in the black-haired girl.

Ikkaku stretched. "Ichigo's friends huh? Any of them have decent reiatsu?"

Renji nodded. "Yeah. They all had pretty decent amounts for a human, though this one chick had more than the others."

Matsumoto lost interest in the conversation there, remembering that it was actually her taicho who was supposed to get all of this information out of them before coming to some obscure conclusion that he'd only tell them of later. She bit her lip as she became restless again.

With a loud bang the door burst open and a gust of fresh, cool night air wafted into the slightly stuffy room as an orange-haired figure stumbled through the door.

"Ichigo!" Renji was beside his old friend within a few strides, giving him a slap on the back and making the carrot-top stumble a little.

Ikkaku grinned from his position on the couch. "Oi, Ichigo. What're you doin' here?"

Ichigo straightened up and placed a hand at the back of his head, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Well ah…"

Matsumoto glanced behind him. "Do you know where taicho is?"

Ichigo stopped rubbing his neck and lowered his hand again. "Actually, yeah."

Matsumoto's eyes lit up for a moment before Ichigo continued, "He's fine. Perfectly healthy, no injuries, calm down." He sighed once. "But he'll be gone for a while so…"

Matsumoto, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika's eyebrows furrowed and Ichigo crossed his arms. "Look, don't blow up at me, okay? I'm just the messenger here. Toushirou's alright."

Renji frowned at his friend. "Messenger? For who, Ichigo?"

Ichigo gave an exasperated groan. "I can't tell you! Look," Ichigo cut any protest off quickly. "I'm gonna go disappear again in a minute too and I don't know when I'm coming back, but Toushirou should be back within a few days tops. Just, please don't kick up a big fuss about this. It kinda needs to stay under wraps."

There was a heavy silence in the room, thick with unsaid accusations and statements. Ichigo swallowed dryly as he glanced at the guarded and skeptic faces staring back at him. He desperately needed them to understand. The Vizard couldn't get caught. That was an idea that Ichigo couldn't even begin to fathom. Somewhere amidst all of their torture, snide remarks and incessant beatings (mostly from Hiyori), Ichigo had grown to like them. He couldn't be responsible for letting them get caught, hence his insistence on going to placate Toushirou's team himself.

Renji looked at Ichigo's tensed face. Whatever the hell his friend was up to, it was obviously important enough to him to keep quiet about it. Renji sighed then and scratched his head. "Whatever."

"Renji." Ichigo watched the red-head slouch back against the counter.

"Quit gawking you moron. Just get going already." Renji met Ichigo's eyes and the two exchanged a subtle grin.

Ichigo nodded once. "Thanks." And then he headed back out the door, giving a wave over his shoulder and disappearing into the night.

The four Shinigami in the room stared at the doorframe for a moment before Yumichika broke the silence. "Was it a good idea to agree with him so easily?"

"Of course." Renji replied, still staring at the door. "That idiot is up to something, but I trust him. He won't do anything stupid."

Ikkaku shrugged. "Whatever. If he says taicho's gonna come back in one piece then I guess I believe him."

Matsumoto looked at the floor and frowned with residual worry. Ichigo's appearance had caused more questions to rise up in her throat but she had swallowed them, realizing that he wasn't going to answer any of them anyway. But despite bringing more doubt into the situation, she had to admit that she was assured. Ikkaku was right; if Ichigo said that her taicho was coming back, then he was coming back. Now the only problem was that report that was still due the next evening…

"Hey." Renji said suddenly. "Did anyone sense Ichigo's reiatsu on the way here?"

Silence filled the room for a beat before confused glances were exchanged.

"Actually, no." Matsumoto frowned.

"What did that guy do? Normally he can't control his reiatsu worth shit." Ikkaku muttered to himself.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Ichigo arrived back in the cellar to find everyone scattered around the training area.

"Oi, Hirako. I'm back!"

Shinji remained slouched over on his rock. "About time too. Hiyori's been getting impatient you know."

"Yeah yeah. By the way, that Binding Kidou that Hacchi put on me really worked! None of them sensed my reiatsu at all!"

Hacchi smiled from his corner. "That is good to hear."

A flying sandal hit the side of Ichigo's head and left a red mark. "Hurry it up, baldy! Get out yer Zanpaktou and pull yer mask on! I ain't waiting forever!"

Ichigo scowled up at the short blonde and growled. "Shut it, midget." He barely managed to avoid her first strike and from then on focused his efforts on not getting chopped up.

From a distant outcrop of rock, Toushirou watched as Ichigo re-entered the training room and immediately got attacked by Hiyori. It was a little unsettling to him how quickly both she and Kurosaki pulled those bone-white Hollow masks over their faces and proceeded to attack one another.

The fight lasted only a few seconds before Ichigo's mask broke and he was sent flying into a nearby cliff, shattering its base and leaving a crater.

Light and dampened footsteps sounded behind him and Toushirou turned his head. Karin was walking up the cliff, giving him a small smile as she came closer. Again his muscles tensed and he forced himself to look away, focusing once more on the fight going on at the other end of the room. Toushirou felt how she sat down beside him, a fair distance between them for which he was grateful. She was quiet as Ichigo once again formed the mask over his face and charged towards his opponent, only to be beaten back once more.

She gave a small smile. "You'd think that after two weeks he'd be better at this…"

Toushirou glanced over to her and watched her thoughtful expression. Then he reminded himself about how she herself had pulled one of those white masks over her face during her fight against Hiyori. Shinji had explained some vague outlines of what they all were to him, saying that they had blurred the boundaries of Hollows and Shinigami, thereby gaining more power. He had noticed however that there seemed to be a large weight belying those words. There was more to that story than Shinji was letting on.

A small, metallic clink brought his attention to Karin's slight shift in position. "Here."

Toushirou's eyes widened as she handed him a long, thin, deadly object.

"I figured you'd want your Zanpaktou back."

Toushirou stared at it for a moment before meeting her dark eyes again. She was being completely serious. Slowly, he reached out his hand and curled his fingers around Hyorinmaru's guard. A slight, warm smile was playing in Karin's eyes and, despite the fact that he'd just regained his Zanpaktou, he felt completely disarmed.

He mentally berated himself and just placed Hyorinmaru beside him on the rock since he couldn't strap the long sword to his back whilst sitting down.

"Thank you." He muttered.

Karin gave him a shrug before turning her head back to face the somewhat repetitive fight. Ichigo slammed into another rock formation but Toushirou watched Karin instead. Her eyes were distant but still watching the battle, as though bored but interested enough to want to know if something new happened. Her black hair was tousled from her earlier fight against Hiyori and she had a few scrapes and developing bruises on her body which Toushirou could pick out, though she didn't seem to be very concerned about them. It was like she went through this treatment regularly, which would explain his observations at the beginning about her prowess at hand-to-hand combat during the kendo tournament that Madarame had dragged him into. If she trained fighting like this every day then it would explain so very much. As far as he had seen, she hadn't used a weapon during her fight against Hiyori and only fought with hand-to-hand combat. But what was that mask that she pulled over her face? Was it the same as Kurosaki's? Why did hers last longer? She seemed so relaxed over this whole thing, just taking everything as it came.

Toushirou hated to admit it, but she was fascinating to him. And he was probably more interested in her than he had a right to be.

Karin gave a quiet sigh and closed her eyes as Ichigo's head bashed into yet another rock after managing to block three of Hiyori's strikes.

"Hey."

Karin turned to look at him and Toushirou steeled himself for the next question that he was going to ask. He wanted to phrase it better but could come up with no way of saying this gently. "What exactly are you?"

Karin didn't even flinch from his question and merely looked thoughtful for a moment. "Good question actually…"

Toushirou waited for her to continue but she kept silent, prompting him to continue. "Is that white mask that you pull over your face…"

"A hollow mask?" Karin finished his sentence for him and gave a slight humourless laugh. "Yeah. It is."

Toushirou watched her face as she took a deep breath to continue. "Hollow mask, hollow powers, even cero." She waved her hand dismissively. "All part of the package."

Toushirou narrowed his eyes. He had long since drawn his own conclusions about who these people were but he needed Karin to confirm something. He started speaking slowly. "These guys… used to be Shinigami, am I right?" He had noticed that every single one of them kept a Zanpaktou close to them in their near vicinity. Even that Kensei guy, whose Zanpaktou was only the length of a short knife, had his with him at all times.

Karin merely nodded once. "Yeah. But that was a long time ago so they never really bring it up."

Toushirou processed this fact for a while. Something must have happened to make them leave the Soul Society and gain Hollow powers. Though if what Karin said was true, they weren't going to tell him what. But judging by their prowess in fighting and using their Zanpaktou, he supposed that they must have held good positions. So if he were to report their names to the Soul Society, they could probably be fairly easily identified; something that he assumed from the elaborate barriers and secrecy they were trying to avoid.

He looked back to Karin and glanced her over. Who was she? She hadn't used a Zanpaktou earlier and he couldn't see her carrying one either in comparison to the Vizard. Toushirou hated this newfound curiosity inside him. It was making his head hurt to think about all of these things and how she fit in with everything. But at the same time, he wanted to just go along with it.

"You don't have a Zanpaktou?" he found himself asking her.

Karin glanced at him briefly. "No. I'm not a Shinigami, so I don't have a Zanpaktou."

"Then…" Toushirou let his statement hang there.

"I'm just a human." Karin turned her head to him again and flashed him a quick grin and Toushirou gulped.

_Just a human._ Her words played over in his head as he stared at her. Amazing… she really was just a human girl. Toushirou watched her lean back and support her weight on her outstretched arms, allowing her to stare up at the fake sky above them.

"I dunno how it works really," she continued. "All of the others are part Hollow and part Shinigami. I'm the only one who's part Hollow and part human."

Her eyes grew cloudy and Toushirou assumed a memory was passing by her.

"What happened?"

"Huh?" Karin was jerked from her reverie and Toushirou wanted to kick himself. Damn curiosity. He had no right getting involved in her business, nor prying into her private life! He clamped his teeth together. But he'd said it now and she was looking at him questioningly, wanting him to repeat what he'd said.

"I asked what happened." Toushirou told her again from between clenched teeth.

Karin stared at him for a moment before realizing what he was asking. She leaned back on her hands again and stared into the distance. A twinge of unease spread through her at his question. It wasn't really that much of a big deal how she had become half hollow. The other Vizard had found out easily enough seeing as Hiyori had actually been there when it had happened. The girl could think amazingly fast when she needed to. So she had never had to explain anything to them and the Vizard had given her brother a quick explanation when he had found (and freaked) out much later on.

Karin frowned. Maybe that's why she was uneasy about telling Toushirou? Because she'd never actually told anyone herself? Even Yuzu had found out the details from the other Vizard and not from Karin herself, due to Karin being pretty beaten up at the time.

She looked down at her hands then. There really was nothing to hide, she knew that. Yet… The memory of when it had first happened came to her again and she remembered with sharp accuracy the stinging pain. Unconsciously, her right hand rose to brush against her thigh, tracing the memorized scar there beneath her shorts.

"Don't worry bout it." His voice cut the silence and Karin snapped out of her thoughts and met Toushirou's eyes. The turquoise colour in them was startling as usual. He shifted slightly and looked away. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Karin's eyes widened a fraction, understanding that he was giving her her space. She bit the inside of her cheek as a little bit of guilt gnawed its way into her conscience. "It's not that…" Karin could feel him turning his stare onto her again and she kept her eyes averted.

A loud and metallic banging made the two look up.

"OI! GRUB'S UP!" Hiyori's voice shouted through the room and suddenly people were appearing out of every nook and cranny, swarming towards the food.

Karin jumped up, glad for the distraction, and held out her hand to Toushirou. "Come on, if we don't get there in time all the good food will be gone and we'll be left with the burnt stuff!"

For a moment Toushirou looked at her outstretched hand before reaching up with his own and letting her help him up. Her skin was surprisingly warm and soft in his palm and he, for a moment, enjoyed the feeling of her hand in his. Karin turned and retracted her hand, sending him a grin over her shoulder and jumping off the high ledge.

"Race you to the bottom!"

Toushirou stood still for another moment before the faintest of smiles cropped onto his face. Racing anybody was incredibly childish.

But… maybe just this once.

**OMAKE:**

**Drinks on the house!" Love bellowed from his Captain Morgan position on the rock whilst doling out cans of soda. **

**Lisa caught hers and frowned, giving it an experimental shake before weighing it in her hand. **

"**What's wrong Lisa? Wrong flavour?"**

**Lisa kept her face impassive. "My can seems to be filled with solids."**

**Karin scrutinized her own can before suddenly a flash of understanding passed her face and she turned rather pale. "Oh."**

**Toushirou caught his soda and blinked once. Slowly a frown started to seep onto his face and Karin sent him a nervous look.**

**Hiyori tried to pop the cap but found it impossible to do.**

**The white-haired captain turned a suspicious and accusing glare on the others in the room. "Where exactly was Hyorinmaru while you had him?"**

**Hiyori gave a shrug whilst trying to see if she could open her can by biting it. "Oh, Karin was using it to fix our fridge."**

**Toushirou's eyes almost popped out of his head. "W-W-WHAT?" he spluttered.**

**Shinji held his own soda up then, peering at it from different angles. "Oh yes, rather strange thing too. Whenever she stabbed our poor fridge with it everything in it went cold."**

**Toushirou boiled. "KARIN!"**

**Shinji scowled at his frozen-solid can of soda while Karin ran for her life. "Perhaps too cold…"**


	4. The Bet is Set

**Alright guys, Chapter 4 is up! Just a quick thank you to EVERYONE who has Favourited and put this story on their Alert List. But most of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to review, I really appreciate them all, even the short one-word ones! **

**KazeNoSakura, thanks for getting this Beta'd for me! **

**And now, one last thing: ****Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year****! **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [The Bet is Set]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

By the time that Toushirou reached the gathering of Vizard, Karin had already grabbed a bowl and started filling it. The other people, Toushirou counted eight in total, had also by now started shoveling food into their mouths. The grey haired man named Kensei was already on his second helping by the looks of things. Toushirou watched as Kurosaki sighed once and also helped himself to a bowl, totally comfortable with this routine whilst Karin flopped down on a nearby rock herself beside the green-haired girl Mashiro.

Suddenly a large overfilled bowl of food was shoved beneath his nose by a grinning Shinji. "Here ya go! Don't starve on us now, ya hear?"

Toushirou took the bowl somewhat taken aback. Why were they feeding him? He looked down at the huge portion and gulped slightly. He noticed that Shinji was still standing in front of him and Toushirou felt just a little uncomfortable by his presence. "W-what?"

Shinji just grinned wider and Toushirou backed up a little. Shinji in turn leant forward.

"Idiot. He's waiting for you to eat." Karin said from between mouthfuls on her rock.

Toushirou took another look at the somewhat intimidating man leering down at him before he convinced himself to pick up the chopsticks provided in the bowl and somewhat hesitantly pop a piece of beef into his mouth and begin chewing. Shinji watched him like a hawk and it was making the soft beef seem rather tough to swallow. Only when he mechanically placed another piece into his mouth did Shinji finally straighten up and give him an approving nod. "Good." And he went to sit down. Toushirou was left feeling somewhat confused.

"Forget him," Ichigo mumbled from his place on the floor. "He's naturally weird."

"I am not!" Shinji huffed indignantly, waving his chopsticks in the air. "I am perfectly normal!"

"Dumbass." Hiyori said from her spot right beside the cooker. "Quit with the lies and eat. Otherwise you'll never get rid of that overbite."

Shinji choked on his rice and Lisa looked up from her magazine. "Overbite has nothing to do with how much he eats. If anything, growing does."

Love nodded whilst refilling his empty bowl. "Yes, a growing body needs plenty of nutrients to become big and strong; Kensei over there being a prime example."

Kensei glared over his fourth helping. "Shut up already. I'm just hungry today."

Ichigo huffed then and gave a grin. "Heh, if there's anybody who eats a shit-load, it's Karin."

Toushirou and everyone else turned their heads to watch Karin polish off her bowl and calmly reach over for another portion before resuming chewing. He noticed a few grains of rice sticking to her cheek.

Karin ignored them all and carried on eating, steadily progressing through her second bowl and moving on to a third one. Shinji blinked and looked Karin up and down. Toushirou felt an odd spark of annoyance inside him at that gesture but he quickly squashed it. Shinji narrowed his eyes and then looked utterly perplexed before muttering, "It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?" Rose asked politely.

Shinji kept his eyes trained on Karin. "She's so tiny but she eats so much. Where does she put it all? Why isn't she fat yet?"

Karin's empty bowl hit him squarely in the face. "Fast metabolism," was all she said before using the back of her hand to brush away the rice grains on her cheek.

Toushirou saw her lean back against the rock face behind her, looking a little lazy for a moment. Her eyes had a sleepy look in them that made her seem oddly peaceful for a while.

Ichigo suddenly spoke up. "That's right, if there's anyone who needs to grow, it would be Toushirou."

Toushirou coughed into his food and almost dropped his bowl. "What d'you say, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo gained a slightly crazy grin on his face as he pointed his chopsticks at Toushirou. "That you need to eat more, shorty."

Toushirou was at boiling point but tried to reign his temper in; losing it here was not the best idea.

Shinji reached over and doled out more food into his almost empty bowl. "Ichigo's completely right. You need more nutrients in that scrawny body of yours."

"Oi." Toushirou stared at his once-more overflowing bowl with big eyes. How was he supposed to eat all of this?

"Correct eating habits are always important. And children especially have to remember to eat in good amounts." Hacchi added and Toushirou ground his teeth at the word 'children'.

"That's right," Hiyori agreed. "So listen to Hacchi. You need to eat more, shrimp!"

Toushirou exploded. "Will you all shut up? I _am_ eating, I _am_ growing and I am _not_ short!" He pointed at Hiyori. "And you're shorter than me so you can't talk!"

A silence hung in the air and for a moment Toushirou thought he had overdone it.

"Does Whitey have height issues?" Mashiro asked innocently and the tense moment broke, making Shinji grin.

From her spot over on the rocks, Karin sighed. "Oh get over it Toushirou. You're short, admit it."

He began fuming again and glared at her whilst she grinned back at him, only making his temper flare more violently. What was with her and antagonizing him?

"Humph." Hiyori crossed her arms and looked grumpy. "I am so taller than you."

Karin just rolled her eyes. "Hiyori, you're in denial."

"I am not!"

Shinji was suddenly on his feet. "Well then, let's find out."

Ichigo blinked confused. "Find out?"

Shinji just ignored him though and yelled over his shoulder, "Oi, Hiyori, Karin! Come here!"

A sandal hit his face. "Don't tell me what to do, baldy!" Hiyori retorted but arrived beside him nonetheless whilst he massaged the red mark on his forehead. Karin came over as well, standing with her weight on one leg and her arms crossed.

Without further ado, Shinji yanked Toushirou up by the scruff of his Shinigami robes and got him standing.

"Oi! What the hell was that for?" Toushirou yelled at the gangly blonde man.

"You're a guy so it doesn't matter if I bash you around a little. These other two are delicate ladies."

A moment later he was left with a slap to each of his cheeks and a seething Karin and Hiyori on either side of him. "WE'RE NOT DELICATE!"

Toushirou noted that they didn't refute the fact that they were 'ladies'.

Shinji recovered and rubbed his stinging cheeks one at a time while his other hand took hold of Toushirou's shoulder and maneuvered him over towards Karin. "Just shut up and get back-to-back." He said irritably.

Karin scowled at him once more but didn't make any comments as she turned around and leveled her weight evenly. Toushirou blinked once, surprised, before he was turned around and made to step back against Karin. He realized then what was happening; they were going to measure them to see who was taller! Mentally, he prayed that it would be him. But as Shinji's hand pressed their hair down to get their actual heights, Toushirou found that Karin's warm back against his own was far more distracting than the prospect of potentially being shorter than a girl.

"Five bucks says that Karin's taller." Love whispered.

Rose shrugged. "I shall wager ten that Hitsugaya is the taller one."

Toushirou tried to ignore the betting.

"Ah… what do we have here?" Shinji drawled and Toushirou felt the urge to strangle the man. "Looks like Hitsugaya is actually taller!"

A silent sigh of relief escaped him before Karin stepped away from his back and sent him a grin. With a grumble, Love slapped the ten bucks into Rose's open palm.

Shinji bent down towards Hiyori. "So then, Hiyori! Let's just measure you against Karin!"

With a grumble Hiyori stalked over to Karin before huffily turning her back to her, making Karin step up and press her own back against Hiyori's too. Shinji grinned as his fingers measured a few centimeters difference. "Sorry Hiyori, looks like Karin wins this one."

"What?" Hiyori whirled around and stared in shock at the gap between Shinji's fingers. Shinji patted her on the head. "Aw, don't worry Hiyori. You'll get taller."

Not liking his comment, Hiyori kicked his legs out from under him then and sent him tumbling into the dirt before rounding on a sniggering Toushirou. "And you! Don't even get cocky! It's just your hair that's making you so damn tall!"

Toushirou sobered up immediately as he was harshly ripped down from his euphoria of actually not being the shortest for once. "Excuse me?"

"What's with it anyway? Do you electrocute yourself every morning or something?" she ranted on, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Or do you go through a jar of hair-gel per styling to keep it sticking up like that? It makes you look like a porcupine! I ought to cut you off at the knees to compensate, but it looks like someone beat me to it!"

Toushirou was growing red in the face and Karin was openly grinning at them. Hacchi spoke up then from his corner. "Hiyori, don't you think that it is perhaps you that cannot accept that they are short?"

"I am not short! I am travel size!"

Shinji bent down to whisper in Ichigo's ear. "It comes in quite handy sometimes."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Yuzu bent down to retrieve the casserole dish from her oven, donning her brand new oven mitts that her father had just bought her a few days ago as a surprise since her old ones were wearing thin. These new ones had happy fruits on them, smiling or waving back at her cheerily and Yuzu found them lovely.

"Yuzu-chan!" A cheery female voice called from the table close by. "That smells delicious!"

"Ah! Thank you!" Yuzu hurried to the table and carefully positioned the meal on the coasters that she had set there in advance. From her seat, Matsumoto clapped her hands enthusiastically. Beside her, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika sniffed the air approvingly, their mouths watering at the thought of eating something other than the repetitive living-world take outs.

Yuzu lifted the lid and all five seated occupants of the table gave an appreciative hum as the short girl began dishing out the steaming food. Renji gave the food a taste and his eyes widened. "Hey, this stuff's good!" He promptly dug in and Yuzu laughed at him.

Beside Renji, Yumichika paused to wipe his mouth with a serviette before saying, "I must say, a most delicious meal."

Yuzu giggled happily at all the praise and her father chose that moment to speak up. "So, you're Ichigo's friends from school, huh?"

"Ah yeah," Renji said. "Thank you very much for inviting us over."

Yuzu smiled. "No problem at all!" She placed a forkful of casserole into her mouth and decided it needed salt. Ichigo had popped over briefly a few hours before asking her to invite them all round to cheer them up with one of her delicious meals. Well, it looked like it was working.

Yuzu glanced at the clock and noted that it was already after eight. Dinner tonight had been delayed due to a bit of an accident with the first casserole after her father had forgotten about it in the oven whilst refilling his medicine cabinet.

The young girl smiled slightly to herself as she watched the Shinigami and her father eat. Perhaps it was a good thing that Karin and Ichi-nii weren't coming home tonight; there was neither space at the table nor food to spare. It was an unspoken rule in the house ever since Karin had started training with the Vizard that if she wasn't back by eight she was spending the night at the warehouse.

Perhaps she'd go over to see her a little later… Yuzu decided against it though. She didn't know how to repress her reiatsu like Karin did and if the Shinigami followed her it might cause problems for the Vizard and she didn't want that. Hacchi was always so nice to her when she went over to give them cookies or a new cake that she'd baked.

Yuzu would just wait until Karin came back on her own. At the very latest she'd be back on Sunday evening because there was school again on Monday. Karin knew better than to miss out on school.

Happy, Yuzu ate another mouthful, merely enjoying the lively company for the moment. Ichi-nii had such strange friends.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"What is this?" Toushirou poked the object like it was carrying some form of disease and Karin couldn't help but glance at him before involuntarily smiling slightly at his skeptic and disgruntled face.

"That, Toushirou, is your bed."

He raised his irritated face to look at her better and wished he'd stayed focused on the bed. Sleeping in the same room was one thing, but did the girl have to wear the shortest shorts and the smallest tank top in existence as pajamas?

Karin caught sight of his face and let out a slight laugh, deciding to tease him a bit. "Oh, don't worry. Most people make it out of here in one piece."

Toushirou knew very well that she was messing with him but her words nonetheless peaked his curiosity. "Most people?"

Karin grinned in the nearly-dark room and busied herself with climbing into her own bed so that he wouldn't see the huge smile playing across her face. Oh yeah, she was gonna enjoy this. "Sorry about the blood stains; Lisa hasn't had a chance to clean the duvet yet."

Toushirou glanced at the 'bed'. When he had first seen it, he hadn't been sure what exactly the odd shapes and patterns of the design were and passed them off as shadows from the creases. But upon stepping closer, he had found the duvet pulled tightly and perfectly smoothly over the mattress, making that theory impossible. What Karin was saying however was making him eye the bed with a lot more wariness than he really felt it deserved. He mentally shook himself. She was just messing with him again. There was nothing wrong with this bed. It was perfectly fine.

Carefully, and taking the duvet gingerly between his forefinger and thumb, he opened the bed and climbed into it, somewhat unwillingly pulling the duvet up again. The room was too chilly to sleep with only the sheet on.

He rolled over to face the wall, missing the amused smile Karin was throwing him in the dark. How had he ended up like this? After the chaotic supper had finally finished, they had gotten into talking about where to put him up for the night. The Vizard, despite living in an old abandoned warehouse with holes in the roof, had quite homey bunkers set up in that training room of theirs. They merely opened a door in the room's far wall that blended with the other rocks and were promptly in a wooden hallway with thick shoji doors and polished floors. According to Karin, Shinji had been the one to suggest beds instead of futons, saying that he wanted to try something 'new'.

There were a few rooms, some with three beds and most with two. Lisa, Hiyori and Mashiro shared a three bed room while the guys divided the other rooms amongst themselves.

Toushirou had no idea why, but Shinji had come up with the idea of putting him in the same room as Karin. And for some reason, Kurosaki had blown up at the blonde, grabbing him by his collar and telling him that there was no way that he was letting Karin share her room with Toushirou.

In the end, Toushirou had simply stood and watched as Karin and Ichigo yelled at one another as their argument steadily digressed from their initial disagreement to things like her age and maturity. Karin had finally won the argument by grabbing Toushirou by the front of his robes and yelling at Kurosaki that Toushirou was sleeping in her room and there was nothing he could do about it before storming off and dragging him behind her.

Toushirou rubbed his temples just remembering it. Why hadn't he protested? He had been used by a human girl to prove her point about her maturity level!

He sighed quietly and stared at the wall. Although, why Kurosaki had been so adamant about Karin not sharing a room with him was a bit of a mystery to Toushirou. Kurosaki had acted very protective of her for some reason and Toushirou was yet to find a reason why.

He decided to put that thought on hold and simply try and get some sleep. So much had happened to him today that he was actually worn out. To think that mere hours before he had been following Karin to find out more about her to report to the soutaicho…

Toushirou's thoughts froze. In the brief time that he had been here amongst these people, he had managed to forget that he was actually supposed to report them. They were indeed a 'secret organization' that he had theorized about just earlier that morning when wondering about Karin and it was his duty as a Shinigami taicho to report this. Then Soul Society could take the appropriate steps and either leave them be or intervene as they saw fit.

His eyes narrowed. There was no way that Soul Society would leave these people be. If… when they found out just who these people were and what powers they had, Toushirou knew that they would either be sent to prison or executed.

He gritted his teeth. Why was that reality so hard to accept?

On the other bed, Karin lay facing the ceiling. She wasn't watching him, but she knew that Toushirou was tensed. And giving it a bit of thought, it was quite obvious what he was so wound up over. There was Soul Society on the one hand; his obligations and duties. And on the other hand… Karin frowned slightly. The Vizard were definitely a shady bunch and they were part hollow, the age-old enemy of the Shinigami. But they were decent people and Karin could have sworn that just a little earlier during their dinner, she had seen Toushirou smile.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The next morning, Toushirou was groggy and incredibly bleary eyed.

"Dude, what happened to you?" Ichigo's voice was uncomfortably loud to him and Toushirou grimaced.

He had probably gotten the rudest awakening in his entire life barely five minutes prior thanks to a certain black haired girl jumping on him and nearly crushing his ribcage before stuffing his head beneath that duvet, which he had found out actually sported an overly kitsch and sickly sweet pink flower pattern with dashes of cuddly teddy-bear prints.

After laughing her head off at his attempts to free himself from beneath the suffocating thing, she finally rolled off his lungs, jumped out of his reach and before he could do much more than yell at her she had already dashed out the door, laughing at her childish prank.

Toushirou spotted Karin standing beside Kensei and he shot her a venomous glare when she grinned at him.

"Oi people! Breakfast is served!"

Toushirou glanced over to Hiyori who was setting out huge baskets of fresh rolls, jams, hams and juice. His eyes widened as he took in all of the food and the sheer variety and amount of it!

"Shinji robbed the nearby bakery!" Hiyori informed them all happily. Toushirou, not quite knowing whether to believe Hiyori's words, gave her a disbelieving stare. She merely smiled and offered him a roll. "You're welcome."

Staring at it for a moment longer, Toushirou finally shrugged and took it. He couldn't believe that he was actually eating stolen bread but his stomach was demanding nourishment and who was he to deny it? He bit into his roll and merely enjoyed the moment. He'd worry about everything else later.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"You suck, Ichigo!"

Toushirou watched, already bored, as Kurosaki went flying into yet _another_ rock. Hiyori and Ichigo had begun their training almost immediately after breakfast, leaving everyone else to spend their time doing whatever they pleased. Lisa had offered him a few of her magazines but, after catching a glimpse of their covers, he declined rather quickly and opted to go sit with Shinji and Kensei instead. The fight had moved rather close to them by now.

"What's your problem Hiyori? You're beating me up worse than usual today!" Ichigo roared from his position amongst the rubble.

Hiyori pointed her sword at him. "Shut it carrot-top! Someone," she directed her glare at Toushirou, "was rude to me about my height and I'm venting my anger on you so suck it up, idiot!"

Ichigo, upon realizing that he was being used as a punching bag, rounded angrily on Toushirou. "You! It's your fault! Why did you have to be so tall, dammit?"

Toushirou raised an eyebrow. Well, _that_ was a new one.

Hiyori lunged at Ichigo again and viciously swung her sword, giving him minimal time to form his own mask over his face and bringing his sword up to protect his neck. Their swords struggled for a moment – before Hiyori pushed him back and he went tumbling into another pile of rubble. His mask shattered.

Kensei clocked the time. "Eight point four seconds. He improved."

"It's still not good enough," Shinji muttered a few rocks away from where Toushirou sat. As far as Toushirou had gathered, Kurosaki was undergoing some form of training to maintain his hollow mask. And judging by everyone's reactions, it wasn't going well. Toushirou could see where they were coming from. When he had watched Hiyori and Karin fight the previous day, they had both easily maintained their masks for more than a minute each before choosing to remove them. Perhaps they had more experience than he did?

Toushirou turned to Shinji. "Is there something he's doing wrong?"

Shinji's eyes turned towards him briefly before focusing once again on the very much one-sided battle. "That idiot… he's going to need to hurry it up if he's going to be of any use in a fight against an Arrancar, let alone any Espada."

Toushirou listened up. "You know about those?" Even to himself his question sounded more like a statement. Somehow, it had only made sense for them to know.

"Yeah. We know about pretty much everything." Shinji stood up then and stretched. "But don't worry; we hate Aizen just as much as you Shinigami do, so you have nothing to fear about us there."

Toushirou's eyes widened slightly.

"Kensei, let's go see if we can find some leftovers from breakfast." The blonde suggested to his bulkier counterpart.

"Wait a second!" Shinji and Kensei stopped and glanced back at him still sitting on the rock.

"What… is your relationship with Aizen?"

Shinji seemed to consider this for a moment. "If you're asking if we're allies of the Soul Society, then I'm gonna have to disappoint ya." Toushirou tensed for a moment. "But we're certainly not on Aizen's side either; I just told you we hated him." Shinji gave Toushirou a grin. "We're only interested in our own agenda."

Toushirou narrowed his eyes. "Agenda?"

Shinji shrugged and turned his back, stretching again. "Call it a grudge if you must. Let's leave it at that." And the two men walked off, leaving Toushirou to watch their retreating backs.

As Toushirou turned his head back to the fight, his mind whirled. Now what? Why had Shinji just made everything ten times harder than it already was? Was his sharing of this information some sort of hint or was it just a warning that they shouldn't be trusted? Could they even be trusted? Shouldn't the Soul Society be informed of them? But then what would they do? Would the Soul Society imprison them? What if the Vizard's agenda matched the Soul Society's objective: to kill Aizen? Couldn't they work together?

Toushirou stopped his thoughts and gripped his hair for a moment. What was he thinking? Working together? What was he going to do; walk up to the Sou-taicho and proclaim that he had found new allies that had previously been in hiding in the Living World endowed with Hollow powers? Yes, he could see that going _so_ well. The first words from Yamamoto would probably be along the lines of: Kill ze traitors!

He sighed as he lifted his head. What was he going to do?

A light touch on his back made him turn his head as Karin took a seat beside him on the rock. Her hand that had a moment ago briefly touched him was now neatly folded in her lap and he suddenly wished that it was touching his back again. That simple touch had felt more reassuring than he would have believed possible.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Hey." He didn't bother to elaborate as they sat in comfortable silence. Time dragged on and for once Toushirou didn't mind that the minutes were passing by slowly. He enjoyed this moment despite his mental weariness. He found it oddly soothing, like his problems were of less consequence than before.

Karin kept her mouth closed, making herself simply watch the training between Hiyori and her brother instead of looking at Toushirou. She wasn't going to say anything to him. If he had something to say; he'd say it in his own time. There was no point in pressuring him.

Toushirou glanced over at Karin again. Her face was relaxed and somewhat dreamy, like she was lost in thoughts of her own. Her hands were loosely tossed over her lap in her cross-legged position beside him and he remembered how warm her hand had been when she had helped him stand up the previous day and how reassuring that slight pressure from her on his back had felt before she'd sat down.

He bowed his head slightly as his thoughts assaulted him again and he ground his teeth in frustration. Indecision had never been a major factor in his life; everything had always been in black and white. But right now everything was in so many different shades of grey that he was getting dizzy from being overwhelmed. But perhaps this girl, this still and solid person, could give him just a nudge in the right direction.

Toushirou never asked for help. He prided himself on getting a job done on his own efficiently and fast. When he couldn't complete a mission on his own, he sent an order for back-up. He never requested assistance from another person on a personal issue. It was something that he just didn't do. Maybe it was his childish pride talking, insisting that whatever the problem was, he _could_ do it.

But Karin wasn't exactly telling him that he couldn't manage and thereby challenging him to prove her wrong. She was merely sitting there, quietly, giving him some space to tell her something if he wanted to. The concept was somewhat familiar, though not nearly the same. Matsumoto offered in words to listen to him and thereby putting him off the idea almost immediately. Momo would shower him in sympathy and encourage him to tell her, inevitably convincing him that doing so would be a bad idea. So he had never done so before.

"I… don't know what to do."

That one sentence felt like the hardest thing that he had ever had to say in his life. That one simple admission that he wasn't able to solve something alone. But at the same time, simply saying it out loud had already helped to sort his muddled mind. And the fact that only Karin had heard him speak that embarrassing truth was comforting. It left a bitter-sweet taste in his mouth.

Karin kept her eyes turned ahead and Toushirou was grateful. He didn't need her looking at him right now; not after his asking for her help like that. He felt even smaller than before.

"About the Vizard?"

Toushirou nodded once. He couldn't force more words into the open and Karin saw this from the corner of her eye. He seemed distracted, as though trying very hard to disappear to somewhere else. He shifted and looked as though he wanted to fidget uncomfortably but he held his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Upon first coming over she had been worried of what she would do; she was never really one for comforting others, that had always been Yuzu's department. Yuzu could bend down to a devastated child crying over their favourite and long-awaited ice-cream cone lying spilled on the sidewalk and make them smile again. In comparison to her gentle twin, Karin often thought that if she were in that situation she'd hand the kid some money and tell him to get over it. She wasn't known for her… people skills.

But seeing Toushirou react so similarly to how her brother showed his discomfort and unease, Karin had felt a little reassured. Maybe this wouldn't be so difficult after all.

"Whatever you want to do," she told him softly.

"It's not that simple." Toushirou ground from between his teeth. She wasn't understanding.

"How come?" Karin knew that she had to tread carefully here. If she said the wrong thing she knew that Toushirou would close down instantly and that would lead her nowhere and leave him to continue worrying his head off.

Toushirou let out a barely audible hiss of breath from between his teeth at her words and felt his blunt nails dig into his palm. Her question was asked innocently but it was irritating him! Irritating, because he didn't have an answer for her since he didn't even have an answer for himself.

Karin saw that he wasn't going to say any more willingly. She was able to wait patiently but he was just sinking now. Perhaps some prodding was in order. "You don't want to report the Vizard, do you?" Toushirou froze at her words. "You know that if you report them, the Soul Society will take steps to hurt us."

Toushirou had to fight for a moment to keep the surprised look off his face. He had almost forgotten that Karin was in fact part of the Vizard. Perhaps not completely, but from the way that the Vizard all acted around her, it was obvious that she was more than at home amongst them. But her use of the word 'us' had reminded him forcefully of another fact that he hadn't considered beforehand: If he reported the Vizard, then he reported Karin too. His very being rejected the idea instantly.

"But you have your captain's duties." Toushirou listened silently as Karin laid all of his inner thoughts out for him. In black and white. "Your duty tells you that you have to report us." Toushirou swallowed. The stark, harsh truth was uncomfortable to hear in the least and Karin's calm voice wasn't making it any easier to bear.

"So now you don't know what to do about it." Toushirou's fists clenched tighter, his lips pressed together. Karin turned her head to look at him for the first time since the beginning of her speech and he felt compelled to do the same. The mercury was burning brightly and he was instantly, and with such force that he hadn't been expecting it, knocked free of all breath. A spell of lightheadedness overcame him for a moment and he felt stunned, as though a large and heavy object had physically hit him over the head. He forced air back into his lungs.

"Am I right?"

Toushirou could only nod once numbly in response to her question. His mind reeled and whirled in utter confusion and turmoil whilst his eyes were, despite his best efforts, still glued to her own. She had done it so easily. Come and taken all of his thoughts and sorted them for him. The fact that she, a near-stranger to him, was able to do this made him wonder if he was easy to read.

No, at least according to Matsumoto and a few others, what he was thinking was mostly kept under wraps, frustrating them to no end, or so he was told. So then what was with Karin? Why… was Karin able to read him? He continued to look right at her whilst she stared right back. Was it perhaps something to do with her Hollow powers? Innerly, Toushirou dismissed that idea. No, that did not sound plausible. And besides… The way that her eyes were boring into him right now alone was making him feel somewhat exposed. Perhaps she was just good at reading people in general. After all, there was no reason for her to be able to tell what he was thinking on account of them having any connection. Heck, he hardly knew the girl!

But then why… Why was he so inexplicably, unreasonably comfortable around her? Aside from the odd stomach clench or urge to swallow around her that was.

He finally turned his head away and narrowed his eyes. "It's irrelevant what I want. My duty as a captain comes first."

Karin's mouth felt dry and her heart beat fast. She didn't want to believe that Toushirou would do it, but she had to make sure. "So you're going to report us?"

Toushirou felt like hitting a wall – no – mutilating a menos! That hated feeling of helplessness in the face of a situation was something that he despised most of all. And right now he was feeling cornered! If he reported them to the Soul Society the Vizard and Karin would all be imprisoned or worse. Karin, Kurosaki and the others would blame him and he knew he'd feel horrible. But then again his personal feelings didn't matter when it came to his position as a captain. As a captain, he had to report them. If he didn't and the Soul Society found out _they_ would blame him! Although… would he really feel horrible? Perhaps not until they announced his sentence.

"I… don't know."

Toushirou couldn't believe that he had been forced to admit to this fact twice within the space of a mere five minutes to this girl. He was trapped between a rock and a hard place here. He knew what he was _supposed_ to do but the problem was that he didn't _want_ to do it! Toushirou closed his eyes as he leaned forward on his knees. Why didn't he want to report the Vizard? It wasn't even as though he had known them for very long. They kidnapped him and held him prisoner, went against the rule of the Soul Society, he knew nothing of their 'agenda', they used Hollow powers and continued to undermine his height.

He frowned. For kidnappers they had been unusually friendly with him. They had all been so… relaxed about having a Shinigami captain amongst them. Things had slipped into such a natural routine and it seemed as though his added presence didn't disrupt their activities or mannerisms at all. For once, people were being themselves around him. And now he was supposed to report them. Toushirou's hands fisted even tighter.

Karin watched him keenly and her eyes lit up for a moment as an idea came to her. She knew that if Toushirou was anything like her brother in the areas of personal pressure, he'd continue to beat himself up over this issue until he had either worked it out himself or until someone beat some sense into him, either mentally or physically. Karin grinned as an idea formed in her mind.

"Well then it's easy."

Toushirou's head snapped up at her less than expected words. Karin leaned over to him and he warily noted the suppressed spark of excitement in her eyes.

"Toushirou, when do you have to give your report?"

"Tonight. Why?" He eyed her skeptically whilst she leaned more forward.

"Then here's the deal: if you agree to not report us you'll be out of here within a few hours just in time to give your report. However, if you don't agree and you still maintain that you'll tell then I guess you're staying trapped in here. It's not like they'll be able to find you or anything behind Hacchi's barrier." Toushirou opened his mouth to protest but Karin cut him off smoothly by saying, "Urahara ran a few tests and was able to come up with zero search results when trying to locate us." Toushirou shut his mouth again. He should have known that Urahara was involved somehow or other.

"Karin, I can't just agree to not telling because you'll let me go."

Karin's smile widened as he confirmed her suspicions. He was looking for personal motivation to not report the Vizard. Well, if he was looking for a reason she'd give him one. "Of course not. But that's not my point."

"Then what is?"

"You and I are going to fight."

Karin's statement hung in the air for a moment and Toushirou could do nothing but stare at the young human girl. "What?"

"Yes, fight. If I win against you Toushirou, then you're forbidden from telling and you go free. It's only fair. And if you win…" she thought for a moment before shrugging. "We'll see about that if you actually win."

Toushirou spluttered and gaped at her. She was so utterly confident that it was bordering on impudence! Just who did she think he was? He was made a captain for a reason! He gathered himself before speaking. "Karin. Do you realize who you're talking to?"

Her grin only grew. "Yes. And since I'm a little human girl, you should have no problem beating me, right?"

Psychology. And she'd just dealt him a stinging blow to his pride. He clenched his jaw at her challenging stare. Her eyes dared him to back down from this, daring and taunting him silently. Her offered hand was doubling the building pressure of her dare.

"Fine." He ground out from between his teeth whilst reaching out stubbornly with his own hand and letting her clasp his fingers first. If he hadn't been so busy glaring daggers at her, Toushirou thought that he might have enjoyed the warm pressure of Karin's hand against his.

And then Shinji popped up and ruined the moment. "Perfect! Now let's just add some conditions to this deal so that you don't even consider breaking it!" Toushirou almost jumped out of his skin at the blonde man's appearance but managed to contain himself. As he was about to pull his hand away from Karin's, Shinji grabbed their joined hands and yelled, "Wait! First we must utter the consequences before you're allowed to let go! Or else the vow won't be valid." Toushirou wanted to once again strangle the man but with only one hand available, that seemed like a somewhat impossible task at the moment. Shinji had a strong grip.

Ichigo arrived then, battered and bruised, after Hiyori. "Oi, is it really necessary for them to hold hands through this?" Toushirou noticed how Ichigo's eyes were fixed on their still-joined hands that Shinji was keeping together. The little captain felt a flare of irritation towards Kurosaki. Just why was the carrot-top being protective over Karin?

Shinji grinned wider and he lifted an admonishing finger whilst his other hand pressed Karin and Toushirou's hands closer together. "Of course it is!" Toushirou was suddenly acutely aware of the shape, feel and texture of Karin's hand against his and found himself agreeing with Kurosaki; was this new form of torture really necessary?

Toushirou noticed that the other Vizard had by now gathered and he forcibly composed himself as many of them glanced at his and Karin's joined hands. Shinji looked around, waving his hand at the others invitingly. "Well, any suggestions?"

Toushirou found it somewhat annoying that not even an explanation was required in this situation; had they been eavesdropping on him and Karin? The chances were very likely.

Hiyori suddenly grew a sadistic edge to her face and pointed directly at Toushirou. "If you dare break this vow baldy, may you forever be stuck in darkness and too damn short to reach the switch!"

Toushirou gagged on air.

"May you never grow, no matter the amount of nutrition supplied to your body." Hacchi supplied and Toushirou grew red in the face.

"If you deter from your word, may you forever be short on reaction time to avoid Karin's revengeful right hooks." Rose smiled serenely and Toushirou felt dread grow inside of him along with irritation.

Shinji's prominent teeth revealed themselves more and Toushirou wished to watch the man suffocate more than ever.

"May you forever be itchy," Shinji said, "and your arms too short to reach where you may need to scratch."

Toushirou wanted to strangle them – the lot of them! "Will you all quit referring to my height?"

Karin laughed and his eyes were drawn back to her then. Her mercury gaze met his again and still that daring light shone in them. Her hand gripped his tighter beneath Shinji's securing hold. "Well Toushirou?"

Toushirou was torn between extreme anger for all of the references to his short stature and amusement for the girl before him, challenging him to disagree with her demands. He returned the pressure. "Agreed."

**OMAKE:**

"**Right, we need to come up with ideas. Fast." Shinji leant forward over the rock-acting-as-their-table towards the others. **

"**Make him run around the training room until he drops dead." Lisa commented with a straight face. **

"**Too boring." Shinji waved off her suggestion. **

"**Feed him to the crocodiles!" Hiyori paused momentarily in beating up Ichigo to deliver her idea. **

"**Idiot," Shinji said. "We don't have crocodiles." **

**Shinji contracted a nosebleed courtesy of Hiyori's sandal before she once more leaped into the air to beat Ichigo back into another rock. Hacchi spoke softly, glancing over to Toushirou and Karin sitting beside one another on the far-off rock watching the fight between Hiyori and Ichigo. "Why is it necessary for us to invent these consequences?"**

"**Because, Hacchi, if Karin is as devious as Hiyori claims she is then it's almost certain that she'll make the little taicho agree to a bet!" Shinji whispered whilst the others nodded. "And we need to appear smooth in this situation." **

"**Plus," Love added. "It's always good for the hero to have all of the details worked out by the time that he faces his adversary."**

"**Hitsugaya is hardly our adversary, Love." Rose said. **

"**No, but having a bunch of cool vow-consequences to throw at the shorty will still look cool." **

"**Oh!" Shinji suddenly perked up. "They're shaking hands!" And he flashed off in a hurry, leaving the others to follow at a more mellow pace.**

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

**I thought I should mention that on Bleach Wiki Toushirou's height is listed as 133cm, Karin's at 132cm and Hiyori's at 133cm. However, I wrote the chapter before I found out, so let's just pretend that Shinji fixed the results, okay?**

**One last thing: REVIEW PLEASE! ^_^**


	5. A Twisted Truth

**I'm back! Sorry for the long wait people! This chapter is super-dooper extra long because I had to fit a lot into it. **

**Thanks to everyone who's gotten this far in the story. I'm kind of getting the feeling that I'm losing readers along the way; which ISN'T good. Are the chapters too long?**

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos [Chapter 5; The Truth is Twisted]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

He felt like he was a new, sparkly object put on display or some form of live entertainment. Why had all of the Vizard decided to drop everything that they were doing for the sole purpose of watching this fight? Toushirou gripped the hilt of Hyourinmaru slightly tighter and stared straight ahead, willing himself to push the prying eyes of the Hollow-hybrids to the back of his mind and instead focus on the girl in front of him. Even Hiyori had given Ichigo a few minutes off for the duration of this battle and was now sitting atop a tall rock, scowling at the current lack of movement.

Toushirou focused his attention back onto Karin standing roughly twenty meters away from him in a casual stance, her weight shifted onto her one leg and her arms hanging loosely at her sides. Toushirou was reminded about that first Kendo match that Madarame had dragged him to where they had also stood opposite one another like this. Back then when he hadn't even known that she was a girl and had tried going easy on her despite the restrictions of both of them being in bodies and not in Soul Form, she had been able to keep up with him. He fixed his eyes on her now keenly. He was not allowed to underestimate her.

"Okay! You two ready out there?" Shinji hollered through his cupped hands. Toushirou noted that despite Karin and him being a mere twenty meters apart from one another, the other Vizard had all maintained a much larger, healthy distance.

"Sure! Are you?" Karin yelled back, turning her upper torso just a little so that the tall blonde would hear her better.

"All set over here! Start whenever you need to!"

Karin nodded once curtly before turning back to face Toushirou. He lowered his stance just slightly, readying himself.

"Remember the conditions that you agreed to, Toushirou." Her voice was strangely serious and Toushirou's apprehension grew slightly. "If I win then you are forbidden from revealing our secret to the Soul Society or anyone else." She held his gaze evenly. "And you get to go free." She added as an afterthought.

"I remember." He replied. How could he forget? All of those stupid consequences to him breaking his vow were nearly permanently engraved into his head. That and his side of the bargain was left vague. He had no idea of what to expect or demand in the case of him winning against Karin.

"Good."

A small tug of her lips was the only warning he received before she leapt and crossed the space between them nearly instantly. His eyes widened for a second only as he registered her close proximity to him. Much too close to swing his sword anymore! A moment later her right fist connected with his jaw, sending him staggering back a step as his brain jarred in his skull from the force of the blow. An instant later, her foot hit his lower back towards the left, throwing him off balance and leaving her an opening to spin and land another high-power kick to his ribcage and sending him flying across the training room and sprawling onto the ground.

He coughed once, dazed, but she left him no time to regain his bearings as she flash stepped in front of him as he was lifting himself up, kicking upwards and letting the top of her foot find the underside of his chin, making him nearly bite his own tongue off in the process of being roughly forced into the air once more. Her palm thrust to his chest sent him hurtling two meters backwards and crashing head-first into a rock.

"Oh, looks like baldy is imitating Ichigo here." Hiyori commented lightly, now somewhat interested in the fight.

Toushirou blinked once, his mind finally catching up to the present within the space of a second. _Hand-to-hand combat! He hadn't fought against anyone in hand-to-hand in years and he'd had barely any experience even then! How was he supposed to manage this? Karin was ruthless! _He hurriedly flipped himself out of the way as her fist whizzed towards him and instead shattered the rock where his head had been a moment ago. He couldn't afford to let her get the advantage on him again! Lunging forward, Toushirou swung his sword at her in a wide sweep, forcing Karin to back up a step and allowing him to follow up his attack.

Karin dodged his sword yet again and her eyes narrowed. He was getting used to her fighting style quickly. But it had yet to get interesting. She wasn't wearing her mask and Toushirou still hadn't released his shikai. She pressed her lips together. But then again, she couldn't afford for him to use shikai during their fight. She'd have to finish him before that if she wanted to have a shot at winning. Twisting herself through the air, Karin easily landed with her foot on the flat of his blade, taking him momentarily off guard and giving her just enough of an opening to swing her other leg up and to deliver another kick to his chin.

Toushirou once more felt his head stunned by the strength of her kick. Karin gave him no time to retaliate or even lift his sword again before she grabbed his shoulder and flipped herself over it, using her momentum to bring her knee painfully into the side of his head, just below his temple; she didn't want to kill him.

Through the black spots that had erupted in his vision, Toushirou made enough sense of the situation to know that Karin was directly behind him. So before she could land yet another hit on him he wrenched his left arm behind his back to shoot a blast of kidou at her, forcing Karin to jump away long enough for him to recover from the ringing in his ears.

Toushirou was quickly getting accustomed to how she fought and Karin knew that if she didn't finish this soon he would manage to beat her. An inkling of her pride cut in with that, telling her that she wouldn't let him win whilst her logical side cropped up and affirmed her own judgment that she had to end this quickly. She brought her hand to her face.

Toushirou caught his breath as she moved her hand, her fingers brushing her forehead. If she brought out her mask, then he was in serious trouble!

"Way of Binding No.63, Winding Binding Chains!" The yellow kidou had wrapped around her before she could react and immediately bound itself around her upper torso, forcing her arms to her body and away from her face, dispersing the few gathered reiatsu particles there.

_Shit! _She had to get her mask out to win and he'd bound her arms! Karin struggled for a moment before she felt Toushirou right beside her, his sword raised and swinging down towards her. She only just managed to leap to the side, avoiding his blade by an inch as it grazed the material of her jacket.

Karin spun using her momentum, bringing her heel to smash into the hilt of Hyourinmaru and Toushirou's fingers, making him wince in pain. During that moment, Karin raised both her legs over the Binding Kidou and to her head. For a second she got a glimpse of Toushirou's puzzled expression before she clenched her teeth and swiftly yanked her feet back down, a burst of reiatsu left in their wake over her face.

Toushirou gaped. _She just pulled her mask on with her feet! _An instant later, her reiatsu sky-rocketed and her elbow dug deep into his solar plexus, the Binding Kidou he'd cast easily snapped a moment before by her fully released reiatsu. Every ounce of air was crushed from his lungs and he could have sworn he heard a few cracks.

"Whoops. Sorry." Toushirou's eyes snapped up to where he'd expected her mercury eyes to have been but instead met with two poison yellow disks enveloped in pitch black behind a bone white mask. Time froze for a minute as he took in her Hollow appearance for the first time close-up. The stark white mask resembled that of a fox, markings running down to where her nose should be and two segments stretching out over the back of her head giving the appearance of two large ears. But her eyes drew him. Her eyes that had turned strange and dangerous, encompassing everything Hollow, radiating predator instinct and reminding him that she wasn't human. He liked them.

Her voice came out layered, a mix between her own and the Hollow inside her. Apparently she'd hit him a little too hard. His ribs had _not _sounded good just then. Toushirou realized this at the same time that she did and gritted his teeth against the pain at he swung Hyourinmaru outwards, making Karin back up two steps before he jumped up and kicked her already raised arms that had been crossed protectively over her face.

"Sit upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyourin-"

The rest of his sentence was abruptly cut off by a decisive and violent hit to the back of his neck, in the exact same place that Karin had gotten him in at that store. And just like that first time his body lost all feeling and his muscles went limp before his vision blacked out.

_Not again…_

Someone caught him before he hit the ground and he vaguely remembered poison yellow before the black took over and he was, once again, plunged into unconsciousness.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

He was sore. Feeling was seeping back into his muscles but he wished they'd just stay numb for the moment. They stung too much and his brain was pounding on the inside of his skull, giving him a splitting headache. He groaned slightly as he cracked his eyes open –

"ARGH!"

- and yelled, coming face-to-face with _pink_. Thrashing wildly once was enough to shift his weight too far to the right and send him tumbling down a slope to crash rather roughly into a huge boulder already largely demolished by Ichigo earlier that day.

"Idiot." The pink thing was ripped away from his face, letting the bright artificial light from the underground training room assault his eyes. He scrunched them shut again hurriedly, wincing as he tried to turn his head and suddenly remembering the cringing pain in his chest. He reached down only to have a small warm hand grip onto his own tightly, making him look up at its owner who was staring down at him with pure mercury eyes.

"Your ribs are still healing, Toushirou, so don't move around or do anything stupid."

"Like rolling down a hill?"

"Like rolling down a hill." Karin confirmed and sighed once, sitting down beside him and releasing his hand. "Seriously, why'd you go and yell like that in the first place? Did the pink blanket scare ya?"

Toushirou blinked once and glanced over at the pink bundle lying over to his right. To his chagrin, he realized that it was in fact the hideous flower-print blanket with the scattered teddy bears on it that had startled him and caused him to thrash about. He glowered at it, though it wasn't really the duvet's fault. Whoever the genius was who had decided to cover his face with that atrocity was going to get it!

"Oh, looks like little Hitsugaya finally woke up." Shinji strolled over to them, his hands in the pockets of his pants and his cap pulled over his head. "Only took you three hours."

Toushirou kept quiet. He'd been out for three hours already?

"Hey, three hours is a pretty decent time." Kensei spoke from his place on a nearby cliff. "Hitsugaya doesn't have Hollow powers, so it's only natural that his skin would be less durable." Toushirou privately thought that they were calling him soft. "Karin's punches are quite tough too."

Karin smiled up at the man. "Hey, you're the one who taught me how to get the most power from my hits." Kensei just shrugged, though Toushirou did catch the pleased expression on his face.

"Oh! Whitey looks like a blueberry now!" Mashiro bounced up then and pointed directly at Toushirou, her finger uncomfortably close up in his face, causing him to lean back to avoid it gouging out his left eye.

Kensei promptly grabbed her by her orange scarf again. "Shut it Mashiro."

"Moh, Kensei, you're so mean! Blueberry-tan looks funny!"

Toushirou just frowned. A blueberry?

"So," Shinji spoke from his place leaning against a nearby boulder. "I guess you'll be leaving soon."

"It's late afternoon already." Lisa commented when he didn't say anything. "Your report should be due in a few hours. Not to mention that Yuzu-san called when you were out cold telling us that your subordinates were getting antsy."

Toushirou drew a breath and nodded. "Yeah." If Matsumoto was getting antsy he had to get back soon. He just hoped that Abarai and the others would be able to restrain her from going shopping for sake. He didn't feel like dealing with a drunken Matsumoto when he got back. Slowly he got to his feet, wincing slightly from his healing ribs.

"Careful please." Hacchi raised a hand to get Toushirou's attention. "The healing kidou that I have cast takes a while to fully complete but does the job very thoroughly. Your ribs should be healed within the next few hours. But until then, please do not shift around too much." Toushirou nodded. "Also, please excuse this, but I have cast a shielding kidou around you similar to the one I used on Ichigo when he went to appease your subordinates. It shall wear off within the next few minutes, giving you roughly half an hour to reach your destination."

"That way I won't be sensed until I'm actually back, right?" Hacchi nodded at that and Toushirou shrugged, readjusting Hyourinmaru on his back. Karin stood up too then.

"I guess I'll be getting back home."

"Leaving already, Karin?" Ichigo asked over his shoulder. "Make sure you get back safely."

Toushirou ignored how casually the Substitute addressed her and the obvious concern laced through his words. After all, everyone here simply called her 'Karin' so Kurosaki should be no different. Toushirou frowned. But why was that orange-head continuously butting into her business as soon as Toushirou came into the picture? After all, there was no connection between the substitute and Karin, right? Why did that thought disturb him so much?

"Yeah. I'll be back tomorrow sometime. Probably." She shrugged once, shouldering a small backpack.

"You'd better be back here tomorrow, Karin!" Hiyori yelled from the top of her rock.

Karin turned on her heel and merely waved over her shoulder. "Whatever, Hiyori."

Toushirou turned to follow after Karin towards the huge flight of steps, trusting that she'd know how to exit the powerful barrier that Hacchi had set up.

"Oi! Baldy!"

Hiyori's shout left him in no doubt that she was addressing him and Toushirou turned his head slightly to glare at the short blonde irritably.

She was standing on the boulder with her hands cupped over her mouth. "The same applies to you too! If you don't stop by here again I'll rip that porcupine head of yours right off your midget shoulders!"

Toushirou wanted to fume at being called short but got cut off again, this time by Shinji turning to scold Hiyori loudly. "Hiyori, don't insult him. He ain't gonna come back if you're too mean to the shrimp."

Toushirou was about to explode when Karin appeared right beside him with a shunpo, apparently impatient. "Hurry up, will ya? I'm leaving without you."

Toushirou grumbled silently as he turned around and fell in to step beside her, pointedly ignoring a bickering Hiyori and Shinji behind him until finally their voices had faded. As he ascended the darkened flight of steps, he couldn't help but feel a small nagging regret at having to leave so soon. He shook it off, dismissing it as ridiculous.

As Karin took the last step and entered the large factory space above, she headed straight for a corner and bent down to something hidden amongst the rubble there, giving it a yank and pulling her real flesh body into a sitting position. "Damn, it's always so awkward getting back into this…" As she gripped her body from behind she faded back into it, her Soul Form entering her living human body once more. Karin stood and dusted herself off once before shrugging her shoulders, grimacing at the feeling.

"Uncomfortable?" Toushirou had always thought that real human bodies were less constricting than gigai since Kurosaki had never put up much of a fuss when he re-entered his own body.

"Not exactly," Karin admitted. "Just a little weird being back in a solid body again. I can't do half the things in it that I can in Soul Form." She grinned up at him. "Why do you think I didn't kick your butt at the Kendo Tournament?"

Toushirou thought about that for a moment as Karin walked over to the large entrance of the warehouse and stepped up to the large yellow barrier surrounding the building, waiting in front of it for a moment before a large rectangular opening appeared. Toushirou headed for it too while it remained opened, letting them step through it and closing right behind them.

As soon as they had exited the barrier and the door sealed up again, Toushirou had to remind himself that the Vizard hideout was in actual fact right behind him. He stared at the barrier in awe whose presence was slowly beginning to fade along with the building's. Apparently Hacchi's barrier not only shielded from reiatsu but also nearly erased the existence of the building from people's minds. How clever. If the Soul Society didn't know that it was there they couldn't suspect that it served as a hide-out. No wonder the Vizard hadn't been caught.

"Pretty impressive, ey?" Karin spoke from beside him and Toushirou nodded once. "It's impossible to find unless you know exactly what you're looking for. I guess Rukia-san might find us if she focused on Ichigo's reiatsu hard enough, but only because she's so close to him."

Toushirou turned his attention to the black-haired girl beside him. "So you just memorize where this building is supposed to be to get back here every day?"

"Yup, but Hacchi has to open up the barrier for me or else I can't get in. His technique is impossible for any Shinigami to break."

"But you're not a Shinigami."

"No, but I don't exactly want to shatter the barrier either." She turned around then, beginning to head through the other surrounding warehouses. "Come on, you've got to get back, right?"

Toushirou nodded and easily caught up to her, taking a last glance at the building behind him. It was oddly hard to focus on it and, strangely enough, Toushirou got the feeling of wanting to go back. He shook his head and faced forward. It wouldn't do to have such thoughts. The fact was that they were outlaws of the Soul Society and while he wouldn't report them that didn't give him any right to go back and spend time around them. Even if he had been invited back.

Toushirou looked around as they walked further away from the Vizard, the warehouses slowly changing to industrial streets and eventually into a downtown area with a few scattered stores.

"Hey, aren't you worried that I'll remember where the hideout is and then lead the others to it?"

Karin looked at him for a little while before linking her arms behind her head and staring up at the sky whose colour was slowly beginning to turn to pale yellow; the vague beginnings of a sunset. "No… not really. I won the bet, remember? I don't take you as the type of person to go back on your word." She tilted her head to glance at his face. "And besides, the other Vizard invited you back, didn't they? How are you supposed to visit when you don't know how to find us?"

Toushirou frowned slightly. What was it with these people and thinking that he could just come back to see them without repercussions? In fact, his whole experience had made very little sense to him. "I still don't get it."

"Hm?"

"For kidnappers, the Vizard weren't exactly hostile towards me."

Karin looked thoughtful. "Well, I guess they had no reason to be. You didn't try to attack them, they deemed you trustworthy and Ichigo vouched for you." She shrugged as though that settled everything but Toushirou was far from satisfied with that answer.

"Why though? When you guys first met me I was trying to find out who you were to report you to the Soul Society. You have no reason to trust me and yet you're letting me go on the meager basis of a promise."

"Will you quit over-complicating things?" Karin snapped.

Toushirou gritted his teeth and Karin sighed. "Fine then. You want a reason? They like you, simple as that." Toushirou was taken slightly off guard by that and she turned her head to look at the sky again. "I guess they just saw something in you that reminded them of themselves." Toushirou glanced at her interested. "Hiyori doesn't normally like humans or Shinigami, so she doesn't really talk to anyone aside from the other Vizard."

"And you?"

Karin lowered her arms to her side again, still looking at the sky. "Hiyori showed up during my Hollowfication, so I guess I never qualified as a human in her book." She smiled a little at her friend's somewhat twisted logic. "And Ichigo's so messed up with being a mix of human, Shinigami and Hollow that he's not really put into any category. And you…" Karin finally met his gaze as she scrutinized him. "Dunno, maybe you were fun to tease."

Toushirou grimaced but held his irritation in check. Karin had brought up her Hollowfication again. Maybe, if he didn't interrupt her, she'd talk about it some more. For some reason he desperately wanted to know what had happened to her, how she had become half-Hollow. But at the same time he knew that he shouldn't pry. He himself kept his personal matters closed up and if she didn't want to tell him he knew he had no right to push her. Still… he wanted to know about her.

A few flashes of his fight against her replayed in his mind and the frozen image of her poison yellow eyes behind the white mask plastered itself over his sight. Half-Hollow and half-human… Despite himself, Toushirou was fascinated by the young girl and her confident, almost cocky aura.

They had by now entered a more residential part of town and Karin turned to him. "You're staying at Inoue's place, right?"

"Yes. And so are my subordinates."

Karin chuckled and Toushirou shot her a questioning look. She just smiled slightly, a sort of gentle smile for once. "Just strange seeing a little kid with subordinates, that's all."

Toushirou glowered at her and Karin just smiled wider, her eyes sort of shining in the early twilight. His breath caught in his chest and his mouth felt dry. _Wow…_He was pretty sure he was staring.

Her finger prodded him on the forehead. "Quite spacing out on me, Toushirou!" He noted that she'd stepped closer and they'd stopped walking by now, her face right up close to his. His heart jumpstarted and Toushirou frantically wished that she couldn't hear it hammering away. What was it with her? She had gone from annoying to plain scary within the space of 24 hours. Because that's the only thing that Toushirou could really attribute his bodily reactions and speeding heart to: fear.

Karin leant even more forward, her face now almost touching his and a displeased frown carved onto her forehead. "Hello! Wake up!" Her breath blowing into his face was making his mind go fuzzy.

He jerked himself away, blinking a few times. "Uh, what?" Great, he'd just sounded _so _intelligent.

She rolled her eyes at him and, to his relief, straightened up, increasing the distance between them before crossing her arms and glaring at him, obviously annoyed. "Sheesh… just where was that mind of yours, Toushirou?"

He had a distinct feeling that Matsumoto, had she been here to see this highly awkward moment for him, would have answered with a snide, 'In the gutter.'

He turned his head away and began walking again, keeping his eyes focused straight ahead. Karin easily caught up and to his relief remained quiet. He didn't want to talk to her right now and was almost longing for a stray Hollow to pass by so that he could vent some of his anger on it a little. It was so frustrating how much Karin confused him! He frowned at that thought. He was having a rather large amount of violent tendencies lately; he'd have to correct that.

"Toushirou."

He ignored her.

"Oi, Toushirou!"

Still ignoring her.

"Toushirou! Hey, midget!"

"What?" He rounded on her, almost spitting.

She merely raised an eyebrow at him. "We're here."

He followed the tilt of her head and his eyes fell onto Inoue's apartment. He fought down the embarrassed blush. "Oh."

Karin grinned at him and he felt his breath knocked clear of his lungs. _Dammit!_

And then she leaned over and…

"See you, Toushirou!" She sped off down the road, laughing her head off at his dumbfounded face as he brought both hands to the top of his head, feeling where she'd just ruffled his hair, before everything clicked into place.

Turning on his heel, he only managed to yell, "Karin!" before she rounded the corner, her laugh taunting him from afar and making him grind his teeth and clench his fists. _What was it with her? Did she enjoy causing him misery?_

"Taicho!" And he was suddenly deprived of all air supply to his lungs as his face was crushed against his overly excited fuku-taicho. His ribs complained heartily and he bit into the side of his cheek to distract himself.

"Matsumoto! Get off me!" He yelped during a mouthful of air that he got and she abruptly released him, leaving him free to inhale plenty of air.

"Taicho!" Ikkaku, Yumichika and Renji all appeared running from the front step of Inoue's apartment towards him at full speed and coming to a stop a few meters away from him. Toushirou was glad that they were able to contain themselves more than Matsumoto.

"You're back taicho!" Renji stated the obvious but Toushirou nodded anyways. He winced again. Couldn't Hacchi's healing kidou work any faster than this? He placed a hand to his side unconsciously, noting that his ribs were about half way healed but probably needed another few hours before they were fully repaired. Matsumoto's bone-crushing hug hadn't helped him one single bit.

Matsumoto leant down and frowned at him then. "Taicho, what happened to you?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?" If she was referring to his situation as a whole and where he had been for the past day and most of yesterday, she wasn't going to get anything from him.

"Your face, taicho! It's bruised!"

Blinking once, he raised his hand to his chin and winced as he applied pressure to the already well developed bruise. Had Karin's punches and kicks really hit him that hard?

"Indeed, they have already begun to turn blue. Most ugly, taicho." Yumichika said and Toushirou remembered Mashiro's comment about him looking like a blueberry.

He groaned. "So that's what she meant…"

"That's what who meant, taicho?" Matsumoto was suddenly very curious and her eyes lit up. "Oh! That girl that just ran away?" Toushirou's eyes widened a fraction and Matsumoto clapped her hands in glee. "I knew it! Taicho, she's that girl from the Kendo tournament thing, right?"

He froze. Now what? The others had seen Karin and obviously gotten a good look at her and probably also recognized her. Would he be able to convince them otherwise? The chances were slim. Was there any harm in confirming their suspicions then? Very few considering that they didn't know anything about her or even who she was. So he nodded with a quick, "Yes."

Renji frowned then and lifted a hand to his chin. "That girl… I've been thinking over the past few days, taicho, and I'm almost sure that I've seen her before."

Toushirou tensed. This was getting dangerous. "No you haven't. You're imagining things." He turned to walk into Inoue's apartment, hoping that the subject would just be dropped. No such luck however.

"You sure, taicho? What's her name? It might jog something in my memory."

Toushirou pressed his lips together. There was no way that they'd believe him if he lied and told them that he didn't know what her name was. "Karin." He said curtly.

Matsumoto squealed. "Oh! First name basis! Taicho, you have to tell me everything!"

"Shut it, Matsumoto! That's not it!" He desperately hoped that his face was not as red as it felt.

"Then what, taicho?" Yumichika asked. "What is her surname then?"

"It's none of your…" Toushirou stopped abruptly and his frown deepened. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Renji's voice was loaded with disbelief and Toushirou grimaced. For the past 24 hours that he had spent around her he had been calling her by her first name simply because he hadn't known her last name and he hadn't thought twice about that fact. What was wrong with him?

"No, I don't." Damn it, how many times was he going to admit that when it came to this girl? She was making him feel like an idiot! Angry again, he violently wrenched the door open and stomped into Inoue's apartment.

"But seriously, taicho," Ikkaku said as they all filed back inside and Yumichika closed the door behind them. "You just disappear on us without a trace and then come back all beaten up and with that strange violent girl." Toushirou didn't meet any of their gazes and concentrated on keeping his scowl in place and making his way over to the bathroom to peer into the mirror that was always too high out of reach. Mashiro had hit the nail on the head. With most of his jaw and the underside of his chin and cheek slowly colouring blue, he did resemble a blueberry. A sad blueberry.

"Taicho, what happened?" This time, Toushirou knew that they were referring to his disappearance in general and not only the bruises on his face. Sighing once, he finally turned to face them.

"I do not believe that it is any of your concern where I was, nor your place to worry about how I received these bruises." He could see the upcoming protests from Matsumoto and overrode her words by speaking louder. "I do know that the circumstances were strange, but it is nothing for you to bother worrying about and also something that I cannot tell you even if I had wanted to."

That got their attention and Renji raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Even if you wanted to? Hitsugaya-taicho… you're not allowed to tell us? Why?"

"Because I'd like to grow someday," Toushirou muttered under his breath before pushing past them and out of the bathroom. Behind him he vaguely heard another question being asked but it was the last thing on his mind as his eyes fell onto a huge pile of papers stashed on the floor.

"Matsumoto."

"Y-yes?" She sounded nervous.

"Why is there a stack of paperwork in the corner?"

"Well… you see taicho, Kira-san got really sick just yesterday night so he couldn't do his division's paperwork… and I figured that…"

"You'd just dump it on me?" Toushirou kept his voice level, suddenly feeling incredibly tired, the strain of his earlier fight against Karin only now surfacing. His aching ribs weren't helping him much either. And he'd mentally beat himself up today too. That lumpy couch over there was looking mightily inviting.

The four others in the room stared in shock as the little workaholic captain turned around and flopped face-first onto Inoue's old couch and didn't move again, completely ignoring the huge daunting pile of papers dominating the far corner of the room.

Matsumoto blinked a couple of times as though to clear her head. "Is he…"

"Sleeping." Renji confirmed leaning over the back of the couch to get a better look at the captain. "He's sleeping."

Casting one another suspicious looks, the four slowly edged out of the room and closed the door behind them, trying to make as little noise as possible. Suddenly remembering something, Yumichika pulled a few folded papers from his uniform with a report on the other humans that Renji had found and placed the papers carefully beside the sleeping Toushirou on the couch for him to find when he woke up.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Well?" The intimidating voice rang through the room and the four shifted awkwardly under the man's scrutinizing glare. Renji swallowed, trying to calm himself.

"Um…"

"Spit it out, Abarai-fukutaicho. I have no tolerance for incompetence." The soutaicho's hard and gravelly tone only made poor Renji's nerves fray more. "Where is Hitsugaya-taicho?"

"He is… uh…"

"Right here." Toushirou entered the room housing the large communications screen upon which the soutaicho's face was glaring at them all.

"Hitsugaya-taicho." The soutaicho opened his eyes a fraction.

"Yes."

"What is the meaning of this? Having your subordinates appear to deliver your own report and then coming in late bruised in multiple places…" The large white eyebrows lowered as the soutaicho frowned. "Explain yourself."

Toushirou leveled the head captain with his own glare before speaking. "I apologize for my lateness but I appeared to have fallen asleep and only awoke a minute ago due to the commotion from this room." Yamamoto narrowed his eyes. "As for the bruises, I ran into a pole."

The shocked silence of the blatant lie hung in the room but Toushirou kept his face impassive, refusing to back down from the soutaicho's burning glare.

"How disrespectful." Toushirou didn't flinch. "Hitsugaya-taicho, do you realize that your shameful behaviour will not be tolerated and shall be severely punished by the Soul Society?" He remained quiet. "Are you certain that your bruises were inflicted by a _pole_?"

Toushirou narrowed his eyes, wishing that he'd had time to come up with a better story. A pole? Seriously? Now he had to convince the soutaicho that he'd gotten beaten up by a _pole _in order to protect Karin's secret? Let it never be said that he didn't keep his word. "Yes."

What ensued between the two over the monitor was a glaring contest and Toushirou was glad that he'd been exposed to so many of those during the last twenty-four hours with Karin. Still, the monitor helped. Finally the soutaicho closed his eyes and gave a low sigh. "Very well. I shall not press the matter further at this point." Toushirou wanted to let out a sigh of relief but refrained from doing so, not wanting to draw even more suspicion to himself. "Your report."

"Yes." Toushirou took a breath before continuing his standard report, delivering Hollow appearance figures and other details. Upon coming to the end of his report, Toushirou added, "Lastly, there have been several humans in the town of Karakura who have exhibited enough reiatsu to easily see us in Soul Form, though none showed any particular spiritual power manifestation like Inoue Orihime or Sado Yasutora. These humans are either closely acquainted with Kurosaki Ichigo or have come into contact with him, thereby easily explaining their high reiatsu levels."

"I see. Anything else?"

"No, that is it."

"Very well." And the monitor shut off. Toushirou closed his eyes, silently heaving a huge sigh of relief. It was done. He hadn't told the soutaicho about the Vizard and their secret was safe for the time being.

Toushirou turned on his heel and headed for the couch again. "I'm going back to sleep."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

It was about six hours later when the knock came. Groaning once, Toushirou only turned his head and tried to ignore the disturbance.

_Knock, knock._

"Ugh…" Dragging the pillow from under his head, Toushirou promptly buried his head under it as he tried to block out the noise that had awoken him.

The briefest flare of that familiar reiatsu though made his eyes snap wide open and stare at the large window of the lounge. There, crouching on the window sill in the dark night and midnight drizzle, was Karin. Flipping the blanket and pillow off him he was at the window within merely a second, already undoing the latch to let the soaking girl inside. As she landed softly on the floor of the lounge he noted that she wasn't in her body but rather in soul form. Had she used shunpo to get here?

"What the hell are you doing Karin? Are you crazy?" Toushirou whispered, wanted to yell at her for doing something so stupid. She just grinned once and he was reminded that it was the middle of the night and everyone else would probably be sleeping by now. So he instead kept his voice low and glared at her.

"Come on, I've gotta show you something."

Toushirou frowned. "And this can't wait till morning?"

Her smile vanished and she averted her eyes. "No. Not really."

For a moment, Toushirou watched her in the nearly-dark room before he sighed once. "Alright."

"Leave your gigai here, you won't need it." Toushirou nodded and discarded his gigai in a corner with a mod-soul inside it. Ordering it to go to sleep, Toushirou jumped onto the window sill beside Karin, noting for a second how silly he must look right now. Nonetheless, he flash stepped out into the rain after Karin, leaving the window open just a crack for him to enter through it again later.

Peeking into the lounge from an adjoining room, Matsumoto had watched her captain leave his gigai and exit through the window with Karin. That little girl was becoming more and more interesting. _No body…_Closing the door to her room again, Matsumoto laid back on her futon and stared at the ceiling, smiling slightly. _Taicho found himself a real firecracker there._

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The air stirred only fractionally as both Karin and Toushirou arrived amongst the stone pillars. The rain was light but steady and it was slowly beginning to seep into his Shinigami robes and haori. Karin was already dripping wet but didn't seem to mind the chilling water as she took two hesitant steps towards one of the tall stones and crouched down in front of it, fingering the inscription on the grave. Toushirou was able to read the name carved there: Kurosaki Masaki.

"Mom…"

Toushirou's breath stopped as the shock of realization set in. Karin was a Kurosaki. Ichigo was her older brother no doubt, hence his protectiveness towards her. Their father, from what he had heard Ichigo say, was crazy, and that girl that had been walking with Karin from school the day before had been her sister, Yuzu. And her mother…

He clenched his hands slightly tighter at his sides. Her mother was dead.

Karin stood up again but continued to stare at the grave, her back turned towards him. Toushirou suddenly felt very out of place.

"Almost half a year ago, we were all here to visit Mom's grave together." Karin began. "We go to see her every year; we even miss school if we have to. It's like a tradition…" Toushirou noted how heavy her voice sounded. "Though I guess this year was kinda different, what with Rukia-san being there and that Hollow showing up."

Karin swallowed, mentally steeling herself for the next part. "Ichi-nii was off talking to Rukia-san. He always beats himself up over Mom's death and visiting her every year is hard on him. I think Rukia-san got through to him though." Toushirou could see the tense set of her small shoulders. "Rukia-san is pretty amazing you know. She can get Ichi-nii back on his feet just by punching and yelling at him and she came when that Hollow was attacking Yuzu and me, even though she didn't have her Shinigami powers back then." Toushirou stiffened at that. Karin had been attacked? He forced himself to keep his breathing even.

Karin took a deep breath. She was suddenly very nervous. She wasn't going to back down now though. She'd dragged Toushirou out here in the middle of the night and he was listening to her quietly without complaining. She had to finish this now, the whole reason she'd left home in the middle of the night to tell him in the first place was because she didn't want to lose her nerve. She couldn't lose it now.

"That Hollow had Yuzu and me pinned down and was about to eat her." She clenched her hands. "Yuzu could barely even see it but that Hollow was going to eat her anyways. I managed to grab its foot and hurt it. It let go of Yuzu that way but…" She swallowed hard as she remembered with burning accuracy the pain shooting through her body back then. "But it threw me and I think I broke a few bones; I can't remember anymore. Somehow during the whole thing, that Hollow managed to tear me from my body and snap my chain."

Toushirou listened raptly, his breathing shallow. He had heard of cases where the Hollows tore human souls from their bodies but those were rare occasions. And if the Chain of Fate was broken… it essentially meant that the body died. But then again, Ichigo's body died temporarily every time that he left it too.

Karin bit her bottom lip hard, trying to calm herself again but when she spoke her voice sounded strangled. "I don't remember much after that. I know that the Hollow slashed open my thigh at some point but I blacked out pretty quickly afterwards. But I did manage to see a short blonde girl."

"Hiyori." Toushirou supplied and Karin nodded once numbly.

"Hiyori told me afterwards that she brought me back to the Vizard. My Hollowfication was too far along to be stopped, so Shinji made the other Vizard help me." She swallowed but the painful lump in her throat would not abate. Karin closed her eyes and forced back the stinging feeling behind her lids. No, she wouldn't break.

Karin locked her jaw and steeled her muscles, willing herself to stay strong. After her transformation, Hiyori had told her that it had been a close call. None of the other Vizard had really expected a little human girl to survive, but Karin had toughed it out. After that, Hiyori had been brutally honest with Karin about her training, not sugar-coating anything and beating her black and blue on more than one occasion. She had managed to survive all of that. She would not cry over something so trivial now. It wasn't worth it.

A warm hand was placed on her shoulder; a stark contrast to the cold rain, and Karin knew that it would be Toushirou there at her back. "Karin."

Slowly, she turned her head. His face was unreadable. "Are you uncomfortable telling me this?"

Karin swallowed and watched him. "No… not with telling you." Toushirou frowned. "Just… talking about it in general I guess."

Toushirou felt her shoulders lift as she took a steadying breath. The rain was still coming down steadily and by now he was soaked to the bone as well.

"I've never told anyone the story. The Vizard always did that for me, and I haven't come to see Mom's grave since that time either. I guess I just…" Karin stopped then and turned her head away, whispering instead. "I guess I was just scared."

Toushirou tightened his hand on her shoulder slightly. Karin seemed so very small right now and his own protective streak was surfacing. But although he wanted to help so badly, he didn't know what to do. So he settled for remaining quiet and keeping his hand on her shoulder. Karin kept staring at her mother's grave for a while longer and Toushirou didn't move away.

He watched her face as she stared at the grave. The rain had made her black hair turn even darker, plastering it to her face and neck and causing shining beads of water to drip off stray strands and into the collar of her shirt. Slowly, a small smile tugged at the sides of her lips.

"Hey, Toushirou?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for listening."

For a while, the two just kept quiet before Toushirou broke it. "I have a question."

"Hm?" Karin asked this time.

"If you were uncomfortable talking about your Hollowfication, why did you tell me?"

Her gentle smile widened. "It was a thank you." His puzzled face prompted her to continue. "A thank you for keeping your promise."

He sighed once. "I thought you said you knew I wouldn't go back on my word."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I can't still thank you, right?" She turned her eyes to look at him and Toushirou noted the lights from the nearby lanterns reflecting in them. She seemed as though she were glowing and while she lifted her head towards the heavens, welcoming the raindrops to her cheeks, Toushirou contented himself with staring at her.

After her long speech, she seemed somewhat… happier. Was it because she'd finally gotten that off her chest? It was an odd concept indeed.

"Hey, Toushirou…"

"Yes," he answered, still looking at her.

"Has anyone close to you died?"

The blunt question hit him hard and he kept silent, too taken off guard to answer straight. Karin, upon noticing his rigid posture, turned calm eyes towards him and shifted so that her body was facing his. Toushirou's hand on her shoulder fell to his side and she took his wrist instead. "Don't worry about it." She kept her voice soft. "I'm sorry for prying." And before Toushirou could correct her on the matter, Karin briefly wound her arms around him for the shortest of moments, applying minimal pressure and stepping back swiftly, smiling at him happily.

Toushirou could only stare at her, his hands hanging completely useless at his sides and his eyes wider than dinner plates. She'd just… she'd just…_hugged _him. Of her own free will!

"Oh, I almost forgot again!" Karin very abruptly buried her hand in the wet pocket of her shorts and fumbled for something in it. Pulling it out, Toushirou was barely able to make out an oddly shaped white object lying in the palm of Karin's hand. Carefully taking it from her outstretched hand, Toushirou held it up to better see it in the dim light from the street lamps. The drizzle was giving everything a dulled grey tone.

"This is…"

"Hacchi cast a long-lasting kidou spell on it. When the wearer feeds this thing a bit of their reiatsu it uses that energy to generate a shield around whoever is wearing it."

Toushirou took the thin leather cord from which the white object hung between his fingers and let the pendant hang loosely, turning slightly whilst he studied it. In the dim light of the lamppost, the white fragment of the Hollow mask glowed almost eerily.

"I forgot to give it to you earlier today so I figured I should give it to you now." Karin shrugged once. "Just so that, you know, you can come visit us if you feel like it."

Toushirou studied the fragment hanging from the cord, a slight frown forming on his brow as his earlier thoughts came back to him. "Karin… I don't know if I'll be able to." He caught a glimpse of her face falling but by the time that he'd looked at her properly she seemed positively unfazed.

"That's fine." She stubbed her shoe against the paving slabs, staring down at the splashes that she was creating in the puddles. "You're a captain and all… So it makes sense." Toushirou watched as she turned her back and tried to keep her voice carefree. He noticed the slight crack in it though. Why was she trying to act so tough all the time? Reaching out, Toushirou took a hold of Karin's wrist now, making her turn back around.

"I said I didn't know; not that I wouldn't." Karin blinked at him once, surprised. Toushirou himself was slightly taken off guard by what he'd said and merely held onto her wrist for a while, gathering his wits. When he'd stopped her, he hadn't thought much about what he was going to do so hearing himself say that was somewhat of a shock to him. But now that he'd gone and said it, he wasn't going to take it back.

Her black hair was clinging to her cheeks and he could see that her eyelashes were sticking together from the rain. It looked somehow strange but nice on her. He continued, "I have no idea what's going to happen next and I'm not going to make empty promises."

Karin listened to what he was saying carefully. The words themselves, had they been said by somebody else, would have made Karin believe that the person were merely putting off the promise or trying to wriggle out of making it. But thinking about it, Toushirou was right in saying that making a promise right now, just before the war, was a risky thing to do. There was no guarantee that he'd be able to keep it. But the fact that he had not said that he wouldn't come was as good a promise as she was going to get from him.

"I'll try." What was he saying? Hadn't he just earlier, on his way back to Inoue's apartment with Karin, decided that he couldn't go back to the Vizard? Why was he telling Karin the opposite then? He was being reckless with his words right now, but that small spark of hope that had crept into her eyes at them was worth it. She gave him a lopsided smile and he willed his memory to preserve this precious image.

"Thanks, Toushirou."

He held her eyes for a while, his hand still around her wrist, before he slowly released it. In his other hand, the cord holding the fragmented Hollow mask that Hacchi had cast the spell on still hung from his fingers.

Karin turned her head towards the grave of her mother one last time, her smile softening and her eyes turning truly gentle, before flashing him one last grin and with a simple shunpo step vanished into the night. Toushirou was left standing in front of the grave, in the rain, staring at nothing in particular whilst feeling the water drench him. What had he just made Karin believe? That he'd be able to come back regularly to see her, see everyone, without repercussions from the Soul Society? That the soutaicho wouldn't mind if he just up and left every now and again to go and _vanish _in the World of the Living for a while?

Lifting his hand from which the fragment still dangled by the cord, he scrutinized it for a moment. The Vizard… He wouldn't report them, how could he? Even without that bet that he had made with Karin, somehow he couldn't bring himself to report these people. And they had openly invited him back to come and visit them, despite his position as a captain. Lowering the mask into his other open palm, Toushirou closed his fingers over it. It felt slightly cold to the touch but the complex kidou spell that Hacchi had embedded within it kept it glowing warmly. A contradiction, just like the Vizard: Warm people but with cold Hollow powers.

Toushirou closed his eyes. A contradiction like Karin. A true but hidden warmth inside her but coming out into the cold rain to share a painful memory with him. He just didn't understand her. Perhaps that's why he found her so interesting, Toushirou thought as he raised the cord to tie it securely around his neck, slipping the mask fragment under his robes and leaving only the slightest bit of the plain cord visible.

Maybe he'd see her again after all.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The next day, Inoue Orihime was taken to Huece Mundo and the morning following this, all of the Shinigami currently stationed in the World of the Living were recalled to the Soul Society. Soon, the war ensued.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

OMAKE:

"So what are your theories on where taicho was when he got kidnapped?" Matsumoto munched on her cookie before dipping it into her mug of steaming liquid, something that Renji liked to call 'coffee'.

"Dunno, but I'm betting it was someplace cool." Renji commented before reaching for the sugar bowl.

"Idiot," Ikkaku drawled from the couch. "He came back all beat up. If anything, he was at one heckuva violent place."

"Perhaps one of these 'street gangs' that I have heard about." Yumichika thought idly.

"Dumbass, the taicho wouldn't get beaten up by some humans." Renji added a spoon of sugar to his coffee.

"Maybe that Karin girl gave him those bruises!" Matsumoto suggested.

"Hn." Renji grunted as he added yet another spoon of sugar.

"Well, wherever the hell he got taken to, there have gotta be some tough guys there if they can kidnap the taicho." Ikkaku grinned sadistically just as the door to the room opened and an annoyed Toushirou entered.

"Why is it that when somebody else goes missing it's called 'abducted' but when I get taken it's suddenly called 'kidnapping'?" Toushirou lowered his voice threateningly. "Are you trying to say something?"

Renji's third spoon of sugar stopped in mid air. "N-no, Hitsugaya-taicho! Of course not!"

Toushirou scowled and the four other occupants in the room gulped loudly.

"Good."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

**Alright! Another Chapter done! Just a warning to you all that I am not going to rewrite the whole Winter War with this story. Instead, the next chapter is going to be a bit of a time skip. I thought it would be fair to warn you in advance. **

**Also, before I get anyone saying that Karin pulling her mask on with her feet is ridiculous, please know that I did think it through. Ichigo always pulls his mask on by forming a claw-hand over his face and yanking downward but Hiyori is able to form her mask without even using her hands (refer to Episode 122) and when the Vizard showed up to fight Aizen in the fake Karakura Town Arc, their hands were pretty far away from their faces too when they materialized their masks. When Ichigo's hollow used to take over, before he got it under control, his mask used to just start materializing on its own and when Shinji showed off his mask for the first time he sort of formed it above his head. So why shouldn't it be possible for Karin to do so with her feet? **

**KazeNoSakura, thank you for checking this chapter for me again. Really appreciate it! **

**PLEASE REVIEW! Seriously, please do. I got a total of three reviews last chapter. In a way, that's slightly sad. My one-shots have more reviews than that! ****O.O**

**P.S: I'm thinking of rewriting the newest Bleach Filler Episode 304 with the whole monster theme Hitsukarin style! Any ideas? ^_^**


	6. Returns Covered

**Good news for me! Last chapter I got the lowest amount of hits BUT the highest amount of reviews for this story so far! So I'm guessing my writing is still going good and I haven't lost you guys along the way!**

**These are the lovely people who reviewed Chapter 5: ****Shizuku700****; ****sayo-chan64****; ****Nefarious Seraph 13****; ****Celebwen Telcontar****; ****KKH913; ****RaginaCaelum****;****hitsukarinluvr****; ****xTsukuyomii**

**I did try to include everyone and I'm pretty sure I've got you all. If I haven't, please do tell me! **

**Once more, thanks to KazeNoSakura for beta-ing this for me and getting this done even faster than we'd agreed on. THANK YOU! **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [Chapter 6; Returns Covered]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Toushirou dipped his paintbrush into the ink once again. The Winter War was over, Aizen was imprisoned and life in the Soul Society was pretty much back to normal. For him, that meant lots and lots of paperwork since the war had not changed Matsumoto's views on that particular duty at all. If anything, she seemed to avoid it more than ever now; odd how her logic worked.

Toushirou sighed once silently as he reached for yet another sheet of paper. He'd been working in his office for ages now, catching up on all of the paperwork that he'd missed during the war itself and also in the days leading up to it during his stay in the human world.

His brush slowed to a stop as he remembered those days. Those days had included posing as students, killing Menos, battling Arrancar and Espada, getting roped into Kendo Tournaments that he had wanted nothing to do with and… Karin. Karin and the Vizard.

During the actual battle itself when the Vizard had shown up he'd been thankful that they had refrained from showing any open signs of familiarity towards him –aside from the subtle grin from Hiyori and slight nod from Lisa, the soutaicho and everyone else was still happily oblivious to the fact that he'd spent the better portion of a day with them and had failed to report their whereabouts. After the battle, the Vizard had gone back into hiding, given the soutaicho's obvious animosity towards them and the still-delicate situation that the Soul Society was in.

He hadn't seen Karin during the battle at all and he assumed that Urahara had sent her to the Soul Society with the real Karakura town along with everyone else; something that Toushirou was thankful for. If Karin had been on the battlefield he'd have had a very hard time focusing on his own opponent instead of Karin's. No doubt Karin had been livid at Urahara though. Toushirou almost smirked at the thought of Karin's fist breaking the shopkeeper's nose.

The nearly-smirk vanished though when he remembered the last time that he'd seen the tomboy. In that cemetery, after she'd left, he'd stood for a few more minutes alone, trying to gather his thoughts before he had left for Inoue's apartment again. He had been so busy with the stacks of paperwork left for him so graciously by Matsumoto that he'd had no chance to go and see Karin. Also, the fact that they'd been attacked by the Espada that day made that task somewhat difficult.

When the news had come the following morning that Inoue Orihime had been suspected missing before Ukitake had confirmed it over the monitor and Toushirou had gone to pick up Kurosaki Ichigo, he had first stopped outside what he assumed to be Karin's window, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of her. However, the curtains were shut and the windows securely closed. So instead he'd simply picked Ichigo up and gone back to Inoue's apartment where all of the Shinigami had been ordered to return to the Soul Society.

And he hadn't seen her since.

It was strange, how this girl that he, by all rights, shouldn't even know or have gotten involved with, could have such a strong hold over him. He wasn't sure what it was, but the fact remained that he had enjoyed spending his time with her. He still wanted to be spending time with her in fact, something that he rarely experienced with any person. She was confusing.

Right now however, sitting in his office with the looming stacks of paperwork, he had other more pressing matters to worry about.

During a sparring session against Soi Fon where she had discarded her sword and instead resorted to hand-to-hand combat, –something she knew she'd have the advantage in– Toushirou had surprised the onlookers by responding to the foreign fighting style with somewhat practiced movements, even catching Soi Fon off guard long enough to trap her with a binding spell and then smash his knee into the side of her head just below her temple. Only afterwards had he realized that he'd copied Karin's move. Needless to say that Soi Fon had been highly pissed at him and immediately retaliated by sending him crashing into the side of a building. He hadn't managed to defeat Soi Fon, not by a long shot, but the damage had been done. He'd let on that he knew how to respond to a fighting style that all records claimed he had no experience of.

Was he in trouble? No, not really. Under suspicion? Yes. Good thing that nobody quite knew what to suspect him of.

Glancing around his office shortly to ensure that he was still alone, Toushirou slipped a hand under his robes to pull out the white mask fragment and hold it momentarily in his hand. His jaw tightened as he remembered how Karin had given it to him, telling him that he should use it to come and visit her and the other Vizard.

Suddenly, the door to his office burst wide open and Toushirou nearly jumped from his seat, only just having enough time to close his hand around the mask fragment and shove it back under his robes before Matsumoto brought her hands smashing down on the table-top, making his whole desk shudder.

"Taicho!"

He sighed irritably. "What, Matsumoto?"

"You've been sitting cooped up in this office for nearly two days already!" Toushirou wanted to point out that it was because of her lack of help that he was taking so long but she continued. "Go get some air and do something outside! It will brighten your mood from whatever you're – Oh taicho! What's that?" Her finger was pointing excitedly at his neck area and, upon glancing down, Toushirou noticed the was cord still showing from under the edges of his uniform. Hastily he pulled them right again to cover it.

"Nothing."

"Aw taicho, don't be such a meanie and tell me. I know, it's from a girl!" Toushirou felt himself blush slightly at that. Although he knew that Matsumoto was being only half serious and the necklace had none of _those_ implications attached to it, she was technically right. Her eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh my… taicho! It's Karin-chan isn't it? Did Karin-chan give you that necklace?" His blush deepened and Matsumoto only got more excited.

"Hah! I knew that there was something going on between the two of you!"

Toushirou felt the distinct need to choke on air and only just refrained, instead jerking involuntarily and looking slightly like he'd been electrocuted. _She thought… what?_ Matsumoto's delighted giggles and happy smile only made things harder to process. She was thinking that there was something… _'going on'_ between himself and Karin?

"Come on then," Matsumoto leaned forward eagerly. "Let's hear it. I want all the details, the tiniest little snippets, every excruciating piece of information!" Her hand reached forward, "And can I look at the necklace-"

"No!" And before her hand could draw any closer to him, Toushirou had already pushed his chair back and put distance between himself and the desk over which Matsumoto was currently hovering with a puzzled expression on her face. For a moment, Toushirou thought he'd been too harsh with her.

But then a slow smirk formed on her face. "Ah… I see."

"You see what?" Toushirou asked a little skeptically. Whatever the woman was dreaming up, he had a bad feeling about it.

"It's a private thing, isn't it?" She straightened up again and tapped her finger against her chin. "So personal so that you don't want to show it to anybody else?"

For a moment, Toushirou was going to protest the fact until he realized that there was no hope of dissuading his overly-romantic lieutenant from her theories once she had formed them. She could be very insightful at times when she chose to but this didn't seem to be one of those times. And besides, it seemed as though she wouldn't ask him questions about the Hollow mask necklace if she thought that it was a more… _romantic_ gift from Karin. Toushirou fought down a blush at that thought. Taking a breath, Toushirou spoke evenly. "Yes."

Matsumoto gasped theatrically as her eyes lit up with pure glee and her face flushed with joy, at what exactly Toushirou couldn't quite grasp. Pretending that Karin had given the necklace to him out of any sort of romantic intentions would be uncomfortable to say the least, but at least it prevented Matsumoto from asking any awkward questions that he really didn't know how to answer.

"Okay Taicho, I get it." She flipped her hair as she turned on her heel and headed back towards the door. "I have consideration for people's private matters, I won't pry." Toushirou remained on guard. "In fact, I'm leaving now and you should probably go and pay Ukitake-taicho a visit to get out of this stuffy office of yours. See you later taicho!" And the shoji door slammed shut after her.

Toushirou narrowed his eyes. He was sure that her mentioning that she wouldn't pry and her suggesting that he pay Ukitake a visit was no accident. So that was her plan: Make him go see the old man and have him squeeze all of the details out of Toushirou so that he could relay them to her in thrilling detail afterwards. Smooth. Too bad she gave herself away so easily.

Glancing down the now somewhat smudged page in front of him and then to the nearly toppling piles beside him, Toushirou sighed once and decided then that he was in no mood to continue with the paperwork after Matsumoto's visit. All the excitable woman had done was bring his mind further onto thoughts of Karin. Rubbing the back of his neck where the girl had managed to knock him out cold _twice_ within the space of twenty-four hours a few weeks ago, he stood from his chair and reached for the stand where Hyourinmaru rested. Slinging the sword over his back, since he was still too short to wear it at his side, he headed for the door of his office, hoping to clear his head with that fresh air that Matsumoto had recommended.

His division was a bustle of activity since it was just before the end-of-day. It being just before the end-of-day, his subordinates were either trying to finish up whatever task they still had to complete to go and enjoy their evening or just going for a last sparring session against one another before toweling off and hitting the showers. From a distance Toushirou could see some of them laughing with one another, joking about some or other matter. But when he drew closer and was noticed, the open faces vanished to be replaced by serious, more respectful expressions and a chorus of, "Hitsugaya-taicho."

Toushirou nodded to them all and walked further, finally sighing silently as he exited his division. This is how it was. Him being the youngest captain had made it harder for him to earn his division's respect and it had taken a while to get there. However, just because he had won it now didn't mean that he could get lax with them or else he'd lose it again. That's why he had to keep a distance. It was near impossible for any subordinate to hold respect for their superior if that superior went out socializing with them every other night. Even Kyouraku didn't go drinking with his subordinates and instead indulged on his own or persuaded another high-ranking officer to join him.

Rounding a corner, Toushirou continued down the path, heading towards an open field that he assumed nobody would be using in the warm weather due to its isolation from the rest of the barracks. The field coming into sight, he was pleased to find that it was indeed empty. There was a large tree on the far end that offered plenty of shade. Perhaps he could sit there for a while.

Walking across the long grass, Toushirou returned to his earlier thoughts. He was lucky to have a fukutaicho like Matsumoto. With all her flaws (being lazy, scatterbrained, airheaded, far too bubbly, carefree to the point of foolishness and only becoming serious when needed) she was at least a person who had no trouble talking to him. Well, here in Seireitei at least.

Arriving at the tree and taking a seat in its shade, Toushirou leaned against the trunk and looked up at the blinking green foliage where the sun sometimes peeked through the leaves. Here in the Soul Society he was addressed with 'taicho' and 'Hitsugaya-taicho'. It wasn't like he minded, he was proud of his accomplishment and regularly reminded people to call him by his title. He didn't want anyone whom he wasn't familiar with and who was required to show him the proper respect call him informally. But after a while, the impersonality of it all did wear on him.

He smiled slightly as he remembered the Vizard. No, they hadn't addressed him by his title, but then again they didn't really have to. They were outlaws and as such not bound by the Soul Society's authority chain. Them calling him simply 'Hitsugaya' had been… somewhat refreshing.

"Oh, Hitsugaya-taicho." Toushirou turned his head to the side to see Ukitake leaning around the trunk of the tree. "What a coincidence meeting you here."

Toushirou begged to differ but held his tongue as the man stepped around the tree. "May I join you?"

Toushirou merely shrugged once and Ukitake took that as consent. Once the man was happily settled in the shade, Toushirou spoke. "Did Matsumoto send you to find me?"

Ukitake grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry, she seems to be somewhat concerned for you."

Toushirou scoffed. "That idiot."

Ukitake gave him a scrutinizing look. "But, Hitsugaya-taicho, I also came here for my own reasons." Ukitake paused before continuing. "There is something bothering you, isn't there?"

"Of course not," Toushirou said quietly. "I'm perfectly fine."

There was a heavy silence between the two as they each stared off in their own direction of the field.

In truth, Toushirou felt anything but fine. A part of him, a childish, silly part of him wanted to simply go back to that time he'd spent with the Vizard. Somehow, ridiculously, within the space of a mere few hours, Toushirou had felt more comfortable around the outlaws than he had around his own division. That sense of familiarity and… _belonging_ was something that he hadn't had for a long time now. That and…

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho said something about a girl." Toushirou visibly stiffened at Ukitake's words and the man chuckled slightly. "Oh, don't worry Hitsugaya-taicho, I won't tell anyone."

"Are you trying to convince me to tell you something?" Toushirou asked carefully.

"I suppose so, yes. But not to worry, it is merely for my personal curiosity that I want to know." Ukitake's eyes twinkled mischievously as he smiled at Toushirou. "I suppose I'm just an inquisitive old man."

Toushirou weighed his options. He believed Ukitake when he said that he wouldn't tell anybody else, though Matsumoto would clearly be an exception to this rule for obvious reasons. But did he really want to tell anybody? Somehow, in its own way, it was personal to him. The time that he had spent with Karin was, like Matsumoto had said, something that he didn't want to truly share with anybody else. He knew that it was a childish kind of selfishness coming out there but he didn't care. There was that feeling that the conversations that he and Karin had shared were to be kept strictly between them. That and he didn't know how much he could really say without giving away the fact that he had known about the Vizard and their whereabouts even before they showed up during that battle.

But then again, he was getting tired of keeping everything shut up.

"Yeah, there's a girl." Toushirou noted how Ukitake's eyes lit up somewhat in surprise. Apparently the man hadn't really thought that he'd be getting an answer.

Toushirou kept his focus on the field in front of him and not on Ukitake. It was much easier to pretend that he was talking to himself rather than another person. "She's short, very irritable and mostly far too loud for her own good. She eats too much for her age and throws things at people when they annoy her without caring if she breaks their nose or not. That, and she's stupidly reckless."

Keeping his gaze locked ahead of him, Toushirou failed to notice the faint smile settling onto Ukitake's lips.

"She's an idiot and doesn't take anything lying down, even going around and beating up bigger guys who pick on little kids. And," Toushirou frowned as he remembered Karin's tensed posture in the cemetery. "She doesn't let herself cry over anything. No matter how much it hurts her."

Ukitake kept quiet, processing everything that Toushirou had just said. Watching the boy's face now, the old man was almost sure that Toushirou had forgotten that he was even there. In all honesty, Ukitake was amazed that he'd gotten so much out of the boy. He was normally so shut off and reserved, seeming so lonely all the time no matter how many people were surrounding him. Ukitake smiled. Whoever this girl was, he wanted to meet her someday.

"You miss her, don't you?"

Toushirou's head snapped up at that, startled upon hearing another voice close by to him. He faced Ukitake again and, seeing the serene smile on the man's face, he realized just how much he'd blabbed out. Damn it, he'd nearly forgotten that Ukitake was listening. Toushirou suppressed the blush that was threatening to rise to his cheeks. He'd just said way too much.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Ukitake reassured him. "I'm not saying a word." The smile never left his face. "But you didn't answer my question."

Toushirou turned away. Did he miss Karin? Toushirou remained silent at this, his eyes growing somewhat distant as he remembered in stark detail how comfortable he felt around her. Well, aside from those times when butterflies assaulted his stomach. How eager her smile was, how warm her hand, how foreboding that smirk…

The reality slapped him hard in the face. Yes. He definitely missed her.

Ukitake spoke gently then, not loud enough to jerk Toushirou from his reverie but clear enough for him to register his words. "I don't know the circumstances of your relationship, but I do know that if you want to go see her, you should." He smiled kindly. "Making yourself lovesick is not good for your health." The older captain chuckled slightly as his joke while Toushirou listened silently. _Go and see her… _That prospect sounded truly tempting to him right now.

Before he could think twice about it, Toushirou was getting to his feet. "Thanks, Ukitake."

He took off and missed the knowing smile on Ukitake's face. Within two flash steps, Toushirou had arrived outside his division where he sensed Matsumoto's reiatsu coming, strangely enough, from the office.

"Matsumoto!"

The poor woman yelped in surprise and dropped the pile of papers that she had been balancing in her arms, sending a shower of white forms fluttering throughout the office and to the floor. "Taicho!" She looked absolutely petrified to see him.

For the moment, Toushirou didn't worry about exactly _why_ she had been carrying a large pile of paperwork towards the couch, though he had a pretty good idea. Checking for any nearby reiatsu, he shut the door and gave his fukutaicho a hard stare. "I am going out for a while."

She blinked at him. "Out?"

"Yes, out. No, it is none of your business where I am going-," Toushirou cut her off and Matsumoto dejectedly closed her mouth again. "-nor do you need to know when I am coming back. What you do need to do is cover for me."

Matsumoto froze for a moment before looking at her small taicho somewhat confused. "Cover for you?"

"When I'm gone, my reiatsu will disappear completely and I can't have questions being asked. I need you to make it appear as though I am still in the office."

Matsumoto listened to her captain speak as the pieces fit together in her head. She frowned slightly. "Taicho… are you going wherever you were before the Winter War?" She stared her impassive taicho down, determined to get an answer from him. When he had vanished then, his reiatsu had been undetectable too aside from the slightest sliver that gave her almost no hint nor indication as to where he was aside from letting her know that he was still alive.

"Yes."

Matsumoto stared at her captain. What was going on with him? Was he going to see Karin? Secretly, Matsumoto hoped that that was the case. His eyes held a stubborn and fiery determination that she hadn't seen on him before. He looked… more alive. Younger. And in some part of her mind, Matsumoto wanted him to just do what he wanted to do for once. All of her worrying for him over the past few weeks at his odd and closed off behaviour might just have been worth it.

The silence hung in the air for a while before she sighed and crossed her arms under her chest like a patronizing mother. "You'd better come back soon, you hear me taicho? I can't cover for you forever!"

Toushirou felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had been somewhat nervous that she would refuse to help him and hearing her agree with him, in her own way, was comforting. He offered her a subtle grin. "Right."

Turning on his heel, Toushirou paused before opening the door. "I'll leave in about ten minutes. You have until then to come up with a plan." And with that he left the office, sliding the door shut on a startled Matsumoto.

Her mind was whirring. Her taicho, the one who followed all the rules, was asking her, the irresponsible one, to come up with a plan to cover for him while he snuck off into the World of the Living? She shook her head as she grabbed Heineko off her stand and hurriedly shoved another stack of paperwork under the couch. How had their roles suddenly become reversed?

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The white light spilled onto the paved bricks of the sidewalk as the senkai gate opened and Toushirou stepped out, allowing it to slide closed behind him before looking around. From the looks of his surroundings, he would have to say that he was in a shopping area. Deciding to get a better view, Toushirou leapt into the air to hover high above Karakura, checking around for the district in where the old warehouses were.

In the near-dark, that was proving to be a challenging task. Shutting his eyes instead, he tried focusing on the reiatsu in the Living World. As he had expected, he couldn't sense Karin's at all. Damn, why did that girl have to be so good at hiding her presence?

He sighed as he looked around again, deciding to take off in one direction which he thought to be the most likely area where he would find the Vizard's hideout. He could have searched the town for Karin, but the most likely place for her to be or show up would probably be the Vizard. From what he had gathered last time, Karin practically lived there.

He wondered vaguely if Matsumoto was doing alright back in the Soul Society. After he had left his office he had made his way over to the large gate which, luckily for him, was unguarded. The ten minutes that he had given his fukutaicho were up so he slipped out the mask fragment and, like instructed by Karin, fed it the slightest bit of his reiatsu. Gradually, the fragment had grown a little warmer and Toushirou could feel his own reiatsu being suppressed and hidden. He had to give Hacchi credit. Allowing a person's reiatsu to vanish slowly and gradually was far less likely to cause anybody to notice their disappearance as opposed to their presence vanishing from one moment to the next instantly. Feeling that he had been completely hidden, Toushirou opened the senkai gate just enough for him to slip through before he had begun running.

Now, jumping over the rooftops, Toushirou noted how the houses were giving way to a more industrial area and he continued on, hoping to spy some warehouses soon. His eyes lit up as he spotted the first few and he slowed a little, giving himself more time to find the right spot where the Vizard hideout should be.

Landing on the ground again, Toushirou wandered through the warehouses for a while until he finally found a few that looked familiar to him. Glancing around, his eyes landed on the large warehouse. It was difficult to keep his focus on it, despite him knowing that the Vizard were there and that the warehouse actually existed. It was like his eyes wanted to travel right past it every time but he forced himself to focus.

Stepping forward, his hand soon came in contact with Hacchi's barrier and couldn't move past it. He stared at it somewhat unsure. Now what? Did he… knock?

Beside him, the golden barrier slid apart to reveal yet another rectangular entrance and he fought down a grin. Apparently, the Vizard could still feel him even with his reiatsu hidden as it was. But perhaps it was because it was Hacchi's spell suppressing his reiatsu that the man was still able to sense him. Stepping through the barrier, Toushirou wasn't surprised when it closed behind him again instantly.

The building was still as run-down as he remembered it to be and he looked around the dark room, searching for the trap door that would lead him into the underground training cellar. Finding the steps and descending down them left him feeling somewhat awkward. It had been a while since he had last seen the Vizard… He vaguely wondered how they would respond to seeing him again. Perhaps they'd tell him to leave or ask him why he had even bothered coming back. No, they wouldn't do that. Hacchi wouldn't have opened up the barrier for him then, right? Suddenly, emerging into the brightly lit training room and stopping for a moment, squinting his eyes closed, he felt nervous.

"Where the hell have you been, baldy?" And a fist connected with the top of his head.

Well, so much for that.

Clutching the quickly developing bump on his head and glaring up at the blonde girl from his hunched over position, Toushirou nearly growled. "Why you…"

"Huh? I can't hear you, speak up will ya?" Hiyori mockingly cupped her ear with her hand and leant down to him. "If you've got something to say then speak up! Or do you have a speech impairment, baldy?"

Toushirou straightened up to his full height and glared at her more. "I finally get back here and I get hit over the head? Seriously?"

"That's right, you jerk! You took too damn long to come visit us! Do you know how many meals you've missed so far where we had to eat your portion? Kensei's getting fat!"

"Hey!" From the other end of the training room, Toushirou heard Kensei's protest before Shinji sauntered up to them.

"Oi, Hitsugaya…" He lifted his cap from his eyes. "Long time no see."

Toushirou nodded, turning to face him instead. "Yeah."

Hiyori gave a huff and stalked back over to where the other Vizard were gathered loosely among some rocks in an open space and Shinji and Toushirou followed.

Mashiro popped up from behind a rock. "Blueberry-tan is back!" Toushirou sighed. Apparently he was stuck with that name now. Wonderful.

Lisa nodded to him once before burying her nose in her magazine again and Kensei gave a short wave with the spatula before going back to frying something on the stove. Love tossed him a manga book. "Here, this one's a blast." And with that he and Rose settled back into their own books.

Sitting down against his own rock whilst Shinji hopped onto another one, Toushirou simply let the easy-going nature of the Vizard wash over him. The bump on his head was starting to really hurt but aside from that everyone seemed completely at ease with his arrival. He couldn't help the small smile from forming on his face. It was like he'd just slipped back into a comfortable routine.

"Ichigo might be coming over later." Shinji remarked. "You guys have been keeping him busy ever since the Winter War." Toushirou just shrugged, silently agreeing that the Soul Society was taking advantage of the substitute but not feeling very bad about it. After all, it wasn't like Kurosaki was complaining or anything.

He glanced around then, subtly feeling for reiatsu.

"She's not here." Hiyori's voice sounded from a few rocks down where she was crouching with a scowl on her face and Toushirou felt a little wary that she'd read him so easily. Hiyori grinned at him. "Don't look so disappointed, she's coming in a bit." Toushirou blushed bright red and from above Shinji chuckled.

Hiyori shrugged. "Though if I were you I wouldn't be so eager for her to show up. She's gonna be mighty pissed at you."

Toushirou swallowed. "I know."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

This was nerve wracking! Never had she been more on edge and more jumpy about getting busted for anything in her life! Or… afterlife, but that was beside the point! How dare he do this to her? Why on earth had she been stupid enough to agree with his ridiculous plan again?

She sighed as she rubbed her temples. Oh yes, because she had wanted him to be happy. Damn, she was too soft.

Matsumoto glanced over at her taicho's desk and was once again torn between flinching in bone crushing guilt or laughing at the sheer absurdity of the sight. She supposed that borrowing one of Hisagi's life sized cardboard cut-out figures without permission could be qualified as stealing and that wedging it into her taicho's chair to give the impression to anyone outside the window in the dim light that there was somebody actually sitting in the office could perhaps damage the precious thing.

But despite herself she had to admit that adding a pot plant to the top of the head to imitate her taicho's spiky hair had been a touch of genius. She just hoped that Unohana-taicho wouldn't kill her too painfully if she noticed her prized botany's absence.

But then again, she wasn't quite sure whether to be more afraid of Unohana-taicho's revenge or Kurotsuchi-taicho's wrath. After all, pinching that reiatsu-amplification device that he had just developed and shoving her own little taicho's paintbrush in there for the sample to generate a steady output of her taicho's presence would be considered by most as asking for a quick second death.

And with all that piled up, Matsumoto was overly nervous and jumpy whenever footsteps drew close to the tenth Division's office door. Exhaling again when the footsteps hurried past, Matsumoto slumped against her table-top. Oh, how she wished for a bit of sake to calm her frazzled nerves but she needed to be highly alert and have prime reaction time if anybody did come in. She couldn't fail her taicho now. Not only would he get into trouble but she would too since she helped him!

More footsteps were heard and her breath froze in her throat, only to thaw and whoosh out of her lungs in a sigh when they retreated.

That was the last straw. She was more jittery than one of those springy hula-girls that truck drivers in the real world liked to stick to their dashboards! Wrenching the top drawer of her desk open, Matsumoto grabbed her sake bottle and promptly took a swig. The familiar burn was comforting.

"Matsumoto-san!" Running footsteps approached the doorway and Matsumoto froze for a moment before the two sets of footfalls came to a stop outside the door. _No, trouble!_

When the office door began to slide open, she was already vaulting over her desk, sake bottle and Heineko in hand, bringing both up above her head in time to let a rather startled Hisagi and Kira get a glimpse of Hisagi's stolen cardboard cut-out sitting wedged in Toushirou's chair sporting a pot plant on its head before, with a bloodcurdling yell, Matsumoto's deadly weapons (the sake bottle and sheathed Heineko) came crashing down upon their heads, rendering them unconscious. With two dull thuds, they slumped onto the floor.

Staring at her two friends lying at her feet, Matsumoto gave a little shriek and, with panicked eyes, began frantically looking about the office.

_Ah! There, perfect! _

Grabbing the two men by the scruff of their uniforms, Matsumoto dragged them across the floor, kicking the front shoji door shut as she passed it, and over to a cupboard in the far corner of the office.

Dropping Kira on his face, she used her free hand to wrench the doors open and then promptly toss the two Shinigami fukutaicho inside and shut the doors on them, turning the key with an ominous _click_.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When Karin descended the steps to the training room that evening after discarding her body on the upper level of the warehouse, she came to a dead stop in the entrance to the brightly lit room and, after her eyes had adjusted to the light, they grew larger as she stared ahead at the shock of bright white hair.

_No way…_

He was sitting beside Shinji on the rock, his back turned, oblivious to her presence behind him and totally off guard. The short-lived elation that she had felt upon seeing him again quickly faded into the background of her mind as her irritation resurfaced for a moment. _Alright then. _

Her reiatsu still perfectly under control, she crouched a little and dashed, nearly flying through the air and pushing off from the ground to streak towards the rock that he was sitting on.

By the time that Toushirou noticed that something was off and begun turning his head, her foot had already connected with the back of it, sending him sprawling face-first onto the dirt floor and earning him another bump on the head beside Hiyori's.

Toushirou got up spluttering dust and turned, furious, to face her. "Damn it Karin! What the hell was that for?"

She grabbed him by the front of his uniform and yelled right into his face. "You idiot! What the heck took you so long? The war was long over and you only show your sorry face now?"

Toushirou was stunned into silence at her violent outburst and from beside them Hiyori sniggered. "Told you."

His attention was quickly brought back to Karin as she continued to yell at him. "You're a lousy friend you know that? The least you could have done is let on that you were actually still alive you jerk! Who do you think you are just keeping quiet like that? I'm sick and tired of people just disappearing on me so don't you even dare think of doing that again!" Toushirou listened to her rant somewhat stunned. He'd never seen Karin lose her temper quite so badly before, granted that he hadn't actually spent _that_ much time with her but it was still slightly disconcerting to watch. "Huh? What do you say to that, Toushirou?"

He stared at her for another moment before blinking once and frowning. Something in her earlier rant that had slipped out had grabbed his attention. "Friend?"

Karin's glare softened somewhat and her grip slackened at his dumbfounded face. Her temper was slowly ebbing away as she calmed down again and took in his lost expression. Was he confused about her calling him a friend? Maybe he just wasn't used to it… "Yeah." She said, her voice now softer. "You're a pretty lousy friend Toushirou."

Toushirou was stunned, to say the least. A… friend? That concept was close to foreign to him. He couldn't quite wrap his head around it. Karin considered him her friend? Was that why she had told him about her Hollowfication? Because she trusted him as a friend? His mind was spinning.

"Oi, Karin." Karin turned her head back to Hiyori who had by now jumped off her rock to stand a few meters away from them. "The midget may be back but you're still getting trained, end of story. So put the guy down and bring it, you can always beat him up later."

Shrugging, Karin let go of Toushirou's uniform and stepped over to Hiyori, both of them using shunpo to get to the other side of the training room a little further away from the other Vizard where they readied themselves and got into position. Staring at Karin for a while, still dumbfounded, Toushirou became aware of the somewhat amused glances that the other Vizard were giving him and he hurriedly climbed back onto his rock beside Shinji, hoping to just blend back in and get rid of all the unwanted attention.

As he watched Karin and Hiyori crouch low and Hiyori draw her sword, Shinji sighed from beside him. "Man… that sure was a lot of drama…"

Toushirou's eyes flickered over to the tall blonde before refocusing on the fight where Hiyori had just launched herself at Karin, her sword swinging down. Shinji leant back and scratched his head. "And here I thought she'd just punch you and get it over with."

"What?" Toushirou was slightly confused at Shinji's train of thought.

"You seriously don't get it?" Toushirou stared at the Vizard strangely, not catching on to what he was trying to say. Shinji sighed. "Idiot, she thought you were gonna come back much sooner than this."

Toushirou swallowed slightly, his eyes narrowing as he averted his gaze.

"Actually," Shinji flicked off his cap and began spinning it on his finger. "Most of us did." Toushirou's gaze flickered over to him and Shinji continued. "But I s'pose it was hard enough getting here without being noticed huh?" Shinji grinned and directed a sly look at him. "So, who did you get to cover for you?"

Toushirou was struck by the gangly man's intuitiveness but held his gaze. "My fukutaicho. She can be quite creative when she wants to be."

Shinji's eyebrows rose a little. "Eh… and she's helping you willingly?" Toushirou nodded once and Shinji smirked. "Maybe you should bring her along next time." Toushirou threw the man a somewhat confused glance and Shinji shrugged. "Can't do any harm, right? If she's helping you she must know something of what's going on. Plus," he leant in towards Toushirou and whispered conspiritually, "if she were a stickler for rules she wouldn't be helping you break them."

Toushirou had to agree with Shinji's logic and he shrugged once and turned back to watch the fight. Both Karin and Hiyori had by now summoned their masks and the fight had picked up its pace, becoming more and more intense as each blow was exchanged.

"So she told you, huh?"

Toushirou's head snapped around to look at Shinji at those words. Although unexpected and vague, Toushirou knew exactly what he was talking about. Broken images of Karin's tensed posture in the rain before her mother's grave played back in his head. He nodded once. "Yeah. How did you know?"

Shinji tilted his head upwards, his cap still spinning on his finger somewhat absentmindedly. "She's just got this open look on her face. I can tell."

Toushirou regarded him, now interested.

Shinji grinned. "Karin's been one of us for about six months already, it's only natural that we can tell. Though," he directed his attention back to the fight. "If there's anyone here that would have been able to see it first, it's Hiyori." Shinji watched as Karin evaded Hiyori's strike to her neck, stepping back with one foot to do so and dropping down to swing her leg at Hiyori's, hoping to trip her up.

Toushirou frowned slightly. "Why Hiyori?"

Shinji smirked. "Didn't Karin tell you?" He looked at Toushirou from the corner of his eye. "Hiyori was the one who dragged her back here during her Hollowfication." Toushirou suddenly remembered their conversation from the cemetery.

"_I don't remember much after that. I know that the Hollow slashed open my thigh at some point but I blacked out pretty quickly afterwards. But I did manage to see a short blonde girl."_

"_Hiyori." Toushirou supplied and Karin nodded once numbly. _

"_Hiyori told me afterwards that she brought me back to the Vizard. My Hollowfication was too far along to be stopped, so Shinji made the other Vizard help me."_

Toushirou frowned. He was still somewhat confused about the situation. "Karin said that you made the other Vizard help her."

Shinji chuckled. "Eh, not so much. Everyone mostly did it for Hiyori, I just gave directions. Turning a human soul into a Vizard is a pretty new thing." Seeing the enquiring look on Toushirou's face, Shinji continued, his voice low. "Back when we were mixed with Hollow, nobody really knew what was going on. We were fighting and Hiyori was injured. At one point, she told me to let go of her. A moment later she was Hollowfied." Shinji paused for a moment then, remembering. "She attacked."

Toushirou took a sharp breath, listening intently.

"Once the Hollowfication process starts, you start losing your mind." He narrowed his eyes. "Hiyori was forced into the process and she attacked us, unaware of what she was doing."

There was a heavy pause between them before Shinji continued. "We got through it though, thanks to Urahara showing up." Shrugging, Shinji let his gaze wander back to the intense fight. "You know that Hollow always go after the people they held closest in life. I suppose, for Hiyori, seeing Karin go through it against her will with her twin sister right next to her… It must have reminded her of her own situation. Having to hurt the people you love most."

Toushirou was feeling just slightly overwhelmed. So all of the Vizard had undergone the Hollowfication process against their will? During the fight in the Winter War he hadn't managed to gather very much about the Vizard's background aside from the fact that Aizen had something to do with it.

Another thought then struck him. Cautiously, he voiced his thoughts. "Aizen forced you guys to undergo Hollowfication, right?"

Shinji turned his head to him, a slow grin spreading over his face. "Yeah. You're quite observant." Toushirou shrugged the comment off, glad that Shinji hadn't taken offense to his blunt statement. But now the Vizard's motives for fighting against him at least made more sense.

From across the room, the sound of cracking rock sounded and Toushirou looked up to see Karin's small frame smashing into a large boulder. "Relax." Shinji's voice made Toushirou blink once, realizing that he had unconsciously tensed up, his hand twitching towards Hyourinmaru lying beside him.

Karin emerged from the billowing dust, launching herself straight back at Hiyori and catching her with a palm thrust to her sternum, sending her tumbling backwards, winded. Toushirou forced himself to take another breath. Despite having already watched the two fight before, it was still a little disconcerting to him that Karin was so strong.

"A little on edge, ey?" Toushirou looked up to see Kensei taking a seat beside them. The muscled man smiled slightly. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Heh, you should have been here when Karin first started training with us! Man, you'd have been jumpy the whole time. The bruises that Karin used to-"

"Kensei," Shinji cut the big man off. "You're not helping."

Kensei glanced down at Toushirou to find him sitting stiffly with his lips pressed together tightly. "Oh." Shrugging it off, Kensei kept quiet then, focusing on the fight.

To say that Toushirou had been unsettled by Kensei's remark would have been an understatement. To know that Karin had ended up battered and bruised during her training was a troubling thought. Of course, it was normal to get beaten up during any sort of training but, somehow, the thought of Karin getting hurt upset him greatly. Though if she knew that she'd probably hit him.

For the remainder of the fight Toushirou was uptight. Only when both Karin and Hiyori finally removed their masks again did he slacken his tense posture. When they flopped down on the ground amongst the other Vizard, both tired and breathing hard, Toushirou couldn't help but inconspicuously check Karin over for injuries. There were none that were serious so he forced himself to look away. Beside him, Shinji and Kensei shared a knowing glance.

"Oh yeah…" Shinji began in a drawling voice. "Hitsugaya, you want a rematch against Karin?"

Karin's head snapped up at that and both she and Toushirou stared at Shinji a little surprised. Toushirou thought about it. "Later."

Karin scowled at him then, knowing why he was postponing it and not liking it one bit. "Nu-uh. We're not putting our fight off because I'm worn out, Toushirou. Don't even think about it!"

Toushirou, irked that she'd seen right through him, turned his glare on her then, meeting her displeased expression. Didn't she get that he was only looking out for her? With her all tired out like she was now she'd never be able to fight properly!

Karin's glare only intensified as she stood up again. "Don't use the excuse that I won't put up a good fight, that won't work, I'll be back in top form in a few minutes anyway so get off your butt and get ready to fight! I've got a score to settle with you!" Toushirou's jaw tightened. Damn it, was this all about him taking long to come back?

Her eyes burning through his, she held his own glare evenly and he wanted to shake some sense into her. Turning on her heel, Karin began to walk back to a more open area and Toushirou ground his teeth in frustration. Why did she have to be so stubborn? He couldn't just stay sitting anymore after her open challenge in front of the Vizard so, reluctantly, he grasped Hyourinmaru lying beside him and, grumbling, followed her onto the battlefield.

With her arms folded, Karin stared him down whilst he drew Hyourinmaru, the sheath evaporating into thin air.

Toushirou could see that Karin was highly ticked off with him but she was just too stubborn! In her condition, he'd be surprised if she could even perform five decent flash steps!

"Ready?" Toushirou nodded once at Karin's hard voice and then, without further warning, Karin launched herself at him again. Prepared this time, Toushirou swung Hyourinmaru before she could get in too close to him but, anticipating his movement, Karin simply ducked under his blade and used her earlier move from Hiyori to swipe his legs out from underneath him.

While Toushirou was falling, trying to right himself, Karin flipped her legs upwards while her arms still supported her on the ground and brought her heel smashing into Toushirou's stomach. Gagging, Toushirou was momentarily thrown off balance yet again, giving Karin ample time to hook her left leg that had smashed into Toushirou's stomach around his left upper arm and bring herself swinging around him to end up at his back and dig her right knee into the space between his shoulder blades.

In his head, Toushirou was cursing. How the heck was she still moving so fast? And she wasn't even wearing her mask! As he stumbled forward and managed to turn himself around to face her, he blanched at what he saw. The air around Karin was wavering like it did on a hot day above a tar road, making the space there distort in shape. As Karin crouched low again for her next attack, Toushirou noticed one of the cuts on her face knitting itself back together.

He only just managed to bring Hyourinmaru to block her punch to his head and for a moment he had a good, close-up view of her previously battered face. Nearly all of the scrapes, cuts and bruises were gone. His eyes widened but he quickly focused again when her leg came swinging around and forced him to twist his body to avoid it. Completing the turn, he managed to get behind Karin and land a kick on her lower back.

Karin gritted her teeth. He was definitely getting better at this. She knew that she would be alright for most of the damage that he inflicted on her but her instant regeneration wasn't the fastest yet since she had only discovered it a few days ago. She was still learning how to fully utilize it in a fight, thus it was fairly slow.

She spun around and blocked his strike at her with Hyourinmaru by catching the flat of the blade and immediately retaliating with a punch which caught him hard on his cheekbone.

The Vizard had been just as surprised as Karin had been upon discovering that hidden talent of hers, though Shinji had shrugged it off saying that it wasn't that surprising, seeing as Ichigo also had instant regeneration. Karin supposed that sharing the same blood would be a good explanation for them both having developed that ability.

Deciding that it was time to kick it up a notch, Karin spun around and brought her other heel smashing into the side of Toushirou's ribcage. The momentary gap that she had gained was just enough time for her to pull her mask on.

Feeling the change in Karin's reiatsu, Toushirou looked up just in time to see her flying at him, her eyes a poison yellow behind her mask. With no time left to raise Hyourinmaru, Toushirou tried to move to the side but Karin beat him to it and her elbow forced itself onto his sternum. His vision blurred at the move and he was momentarily paralyzed, not able to move from the sheer pain of it. By the time that he came to his senses again, he was hurtling backwards through the air, somehow lifted clear off his feet. His stinging skin on his jaw told him that, at some point, Karin had landed yet another blow to his face.

Gritting his teeth, he managed to regain his footing before he was smashed into any more boulders. Focusing on Karin advancing from his side, he turned towards her and forced her back with a swing from Hyourinmaru. As she stepped back, Toushirou headed after her, initiating his own attack and forcing her to avoid his sword yet again. Having caught her off guard, Toushirou drew his free left hand back and leapt forward, attempting an elbow strike to the side of her face, only to have Karin block it with her own forearm.

The two struggled against one another like that for a moment and Toushirou was reminded on his first fight against her during the Kendo Tournament when their shinai had crossed and struggled for a while.

"Hey." Toushirou focused on Karin's two-layered voice but kept up the pressure exerted on her forearm. Her poison yellow eyes glinted strangely and Toushirou found himself studying them again. "Hitting you is not the only thing I'm gonna be doing if you don't finish me off soon."

Toushirou's own eyes widened as he understood Karin's real meaning behind the words and, before he could react, she vanished with shunpo, making him stumble forward slightly from the lack of force exerted from her side and realizing just a second too late that the opening was all that Karin needed.

Her hand connected with the back of his neck.

_Why… every single time?_

He blacked out after that, cursing the fact that he hadn't blocked that strike in time.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I see."

"You see what, Shinji?"

The blonde nodded a few times, his hand under his chin whilst assuming 'The Thinker' pose. Karin was trying hard not to snap at him whilst he scrutinized her from head to toe.

Mashiro hopped over. "Shinji is a pervert!"

"No I'm not! This is an analytical observation!"

Mashiro just giggled and Shinji scowled, straightening up nonetheless. "As I was saying-"

"You weren't saying anything." Karin interrupted him. "Other than stupid 'I see's." She leveled him an angry stare.

"Seriously, it's been nearly," Kensei checked his watch. "Two hours since the end of the fight and all you've been doing is giving useless cryptic comments. Just spit it out already!"

"Tch." Shinji stuck his bottom jaw out slightly. Gathering his thoughts, he turned to Karin. "Your Instant Regeneration is coming along very nicely."

She rolled her eyes. "I could have told you that."

"Just hear me out. If your other Hollow abilities like that are now surfacing then I think you're more than ready to try and master your cero." Karin perked up at that news and Shinji scratched the back of his head. "Though we're gonna have to reinforce the basement to keep it standing… What a pain."

Karin's grin stretched further when Hiyori clapped her on the shoulder and, with a sadistic grin matching Karin's said, "About dang time! Then we can really let loose during practice!"

Rose shook his head slightly. "Oh brother… this could get interesting."

"ARGH!" A loud yell from just outside their little gathering sounded, closely followed by dampened thuds and muffled cries of protest as the bundle went tumbling down the hill.

Kensei turned a skeptic gaze on Lisa who hadn't looked up from her magazine once. "Oi, was it really necessary to cover him with that pink blanket again?"

Lisa merely pushed her glasses further up her nose as a fuming Toushirou came stalking back up the hill towards them a few moments later, dragging the pink duvet behind him.

"That is it! Whoever thought this was a good idea is gonna get killed NOW!" Several heads turned towards Lisa who was still apathetically reading her magazine.

Sparing him a glance, she returned her attention to the swimsuit advertisement. "You brought it upon yourself." Several snickers from the group made Toushirou wonder why he had even wanted to come back in the first place.

Grinding his teeth, he managed to suppress his temper until Mashiro giggled and said, "Now Blueberry-tan is blue all over again."

"I am not-"

"Okay okay." Karin cut him off and, tossing a silver object to him, managed to get him quiet. "That thing has been going off for the last hour."

Glaring at her once before glancing down at his Soul Pager, Toushirou flipped it open and groaned at the twenty-three missed calls and fifteen messages. Scanning through them quickly, he found them all to be from one person. "Matsumoto."

"Your fukutaicho?" Karin asked and Toushirou gave a quick nod, frowning.

Getting to his feet, he stuck his Soul Pager into his uniform. "If she's trying to get hold of me then there's something wrong. I've got to get back."

Shinji crossed his arms loosely behind his head whilst leaning back against a rock. "See you around Hitsugaya. Karin, will you go up with him again?"

When Karin raised one eyebrow at Shinji's request the blonde merely broadened his toothy smile. Shrugging once, Karin stuck her hands into the pockets of her shorts and turned towards the staircase. "Whatever. Come on Toushirou."

Nodding, Toushirou turned to follow her, giving a wave over his shoulder. A sense of déjà-vu overcame him as he ascended the steps just behind Karin once more.

"Hey."

"Hm?" Karin asked over her shoulder and Toushirou couldn't help but think that it had somehow become their standard reply.

"Why did Shinji want you to go with me?"

Thinking for a moment, Karin glanced back at him. "Dunno. He's weird like that sometimes." A scowl formed on her face. "Either that or he's plotting something."

"Plotting?"

"Yeah. He loves messing things around. Just a hobby of his."

They ascended the rest of the staircase in silence and Toushirou retreated into his own thoughts. Just like the last time, a feeling that he didn't want to leave surrounded him. Only this time, despite his stay having been much shorter, the sense was much stronger. He tried to shake it off. It wouldn't do him any good to start pining for something that he couldn't have.

However, he knew for sure that he'd be back soon. A slight smile crept onto his face. He was far too comfortable here for him not to return. And aside from that, if it weren't for him feeling so at home around the Vizard, there was still the fact that he was utterly at ease when around Karin.

As she wandered over to the entrance of the warehouse, Toushirou couldn't help but notice that her black hair looked extremely soft.

"So," Karin started. "Um… it was, uh… nice to see you again." She promptly looked away from him.

Toushirou almost laughed at the look on her face. It was more than clear that she was uncomfortable admitting to this fact and so he held his tongue. Instead mustering up a half smile, he nodded. "Yeah. Same."

Then, casting his eyes downward, he remembered the one statement of hers that had left him shocked just hours before. Friend… Karin had called him her friend. Was she his? Thinking about it, when she had spoken that word, the feeling that had accompanied the shock had been a sort of warm and secure kind. The sort of feeling that left him feeling wanted by somebody. He hadn't had that in a while. And associating that rare word 'friend' with Karin just seemed _right_. Natural. But in a way also not enough.

"Karin." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "I'm… sorry for being a lousy friend."

She stared at him for a moment before a slow smile spread onto her face. "Yeah… so you'd better come back soon if you wanna change to being a good friend."

Damn, that girl sure knew how to use emotional blackmail.

"Oh, and the next time you show up here you'd better be good enough to keep up with me or you'll be going back to Soul Society as a blackberry." Her excited yet slightly sadistic grin left him somewhat unsettled. "Hiyori is gonna teach me how to use cero." Toushirou gulped once.

Karin raised her hand, placing her fingers in his white hair and gently ruffling it. Toushirou was stunned at her unexpectedly tender gesture and for a moment simply reveled in the feeling of her small, warm hand brushing his scalp. Smiling once more, Karin turned around, leaving him just inside Hacchi's barrier. "See you around Toushirou."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

In a matter of minutes, Toushirou arrived back at his office, having unmasked his presence by releasing the small reiatsu sample that he had fed the mask fragment around his neck. He had to get back to Matsumoto quickly to see what had gotten her so worked up.

Privately, Toushirou thought that it was a wonder he could even think straight at all. The sensation of Karin's hand brushing through his hair was still making his skin prickle. Focusing his mind now, he reminded himself of the countless times his fukutaicho had tried to get hold of him and pushed the shoji door to his office open.

Everything looked alright.

Cautiously taking a step inside and sliding the door shut behind him, he noticed a small heap slumped over in her chair. "Matsumoto?"

His fukutaicho slowly lifted her head, her eyes large and her mouth set into a thin, frightened line. "T-Taicho?"

A moment passed before she launched herself at him. "Taicho! I'm so glad you are back! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it! I'm a horrible person!"

Trying to free himself from Matsumoto's stranglehold, Toushirou could only wave his arms weakly, wishing that they'd just grow longer already so that he'd be able to pry his fukutaicho off him.

When the frantic woman finally released him, Toushirou gulped a few lung-fulls of air while trying to pick out the meaning of Matsumoto's babbling. The hysteric woman was a mess; pointing and blubbering whilst howling about something or other.

"Matsumoto, what are you going on about?"

Sniffling once and, deciding she couldn't talk, she merely pointed towards the cupboard in the far corner of the office.

Throwing his subordinate a confused look, Toushirou headed over to the wooden storage space that neither him nor Matsumoto used and was therefore empty. He had, at one time, discovered a small stash of her sake in there but he was sure that when he had left that evening it had been empty. Approaching it and reaching for the handle, he gave the little key one single turn and with a small click the doors came open.

Toushirou gaped at the sight inside, blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating, before slowly closing the doors again and securely locking them.

"Matsumoto."

"H-hai?" She was trembling, a total wreck of nerves. Had she been that jumpy about him leaving and getting caught?

"Why are Kira and Hisagi in the cupboard?"

Matsumoto only gulped once though and pressed her lips tighter together. Toushirou sighed once, drawing his own conclusion before heading to his desk and sitting down in his chair.

"We'll have to figure out a way to get Kira and Hisagi out of that cupboard without anyone noticing."

Nodding, Matsumoto took a deep breath. She was truly glad that her taicho was back to take control of the situation, but she was equally as glad that she had thought to dump Hisagi's cardboard cut-out and Unohana-taicho's pot plant in the river two divisions down. Now she just hoped that nobody would find them. If her taicho got wind of exactly _what_ was impersonating him… He'd be furious.

Reaching over to a small device on the corner of his desk, Toushirou gave it a scrutinizing look.

"Uhm…"

Toushirou ignored his fukutaicho, already knowing what she had done. "We should probably return this to Mayuri." He stared at the device for a second before shrugging and opening one of his desk drawers. "But since I am going to be going again soon we may as well keep it." And, with Matsumoto gaping at him, he propped it into his desk drawer and promptly shut it again, locking it and pocketing the key.

Matsumoto frowned as she took a better look at her captain. His hair was a mess and there was dust sticking in it. His uniform, being black, had suffered little damage but his white captain's haori had turned a light brown colour. And on his face…

"Taicho, you're beaten up again."

"Hn." A non-committal grunt was the only answer that she received. She watched her captain pull a sheet of paperwork onto his desk. "I fell down the stairs."

Matsumoto blinked once. "Taicho, you need better excuses."

"I know." Starting to fill out the form, Toushirou's hand paused as he remembered something. "Oh, and if you want you may come with me next time."

"Huh?" Matsumoto asked, not quite sure if she had heard properly.

"I said, you may come with me next time. There's no point in leaving you here to work yourself into hysterics." He continued his writing. "We'll just have to get another one of those reiatsu amplification devices from Mayuri."

"Are you sure taicho? Whoever you're going to see seems really secretive."

"I'm sure. They invited you."

Now really surprised, Matsumoto stared for a while shocked. Looking up to see Matsumoto confused, Toushirou sighed. "You'll get to meet Karin."

Perking up immediately, Matsumoto's eyes lit up and Toushirou gritted his teeth. In hindsight, having Karin and Matsumoto meet might not be such a good idea. Like the Vizard didn't give him enough grief! Thinking that he should probably give his fukutaicho some warning, he said, "Matsumoto, the other people there are outlaws. Don't kick up a fuss over this."

Returning to his paperwork, Toushirou didn't bother to wait for Matsumoto's reaction. His thoughts drifted as the feeling of Karin's fingers in his hair resurfaced unbidden. Strangely enough, even though he normally hated people messing with his hair, he had wanted Karin to continue. The small act had been so incredibly… warm. It was like the contact had assured him that he was wanted by somebody. That somebody actually liked having him around.

Karin was strange that way. Not paying much heed to his status or his attitude even though he'd been more than snappy with her at the beginning. Most people, even before he had become a taicho, had avoided him because he seemed 'cold'. It was like Karin had come with an immunity to that because she hadn't shied away from him at all, even giving him a hug of her own free will. He flushed slightly as he remembered that incident. How was it that someone as warm as her could be so easy for someone as cold as him to get along with?

The slightest of smiles crept onto his face as he remembered Karin's words. A friend. Toushirou didn't have lots of experience with 'friends' but remembering Karin tell him that she considered him as one was enough to bring a smile to his lips.

A nagging feeling in the back of his mind though told him that simple friends didn't experience that light, fluttering feeling that he did every single time that Karin and he came into contact.

Brushing it off, Toushirou focused on his work again. He'd go back to see her soon, that was certain. He'd worry about what exactly was going on with that oddly unsettling feeling in his stomach at some later point once he had figured out exactly what the word 'friends' implied between Karin and him.

Regardless, he was going to go back.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

**OMAKE: **

"**Kira." **

"**Hisagi." **

**The two men locked eyes as they greeted one another before turning back to stare ahead of themselves. Hisagi spoke first. "I… can't seem to remember much." **

**Kira's frown deepened as he tried to think. "Me neither. Although…"**

"**Although?"**

"**There was something about sake… and bottles…" **

**Hisagi nodded, trying to recall what had happened before he blanked out. "And a yell." **

**The two thought for a moment longer before Kira sighed. "I'll break my head about this later. But right now we need to focus on getting down from here." **

**Hisagi nodded. "Yeah. I'm getting a headache." Trying to reach up, Hisagi fumbled with the cords binding his feet, grimacing. Pausing in his efforts, he let himself drop back down. "Damn it, whoever tied these cords tied them well."**

**Kira nodded. "I'm losing feeling in my toes." **

**From behind a corner, Matsumoto peeked at her two friends struggling with the rope that she'd tied around their ankles to suspend them from a large tree branch upside down. She giggled softly when Toushirou frowned dubiously at the scene before him. "Why was it necessary to hang them by their feet and wrap them in black cloaks?" **

**Grinning, Matsumoto turned her head to him. "It's because they're batty taicho! Batty!" **

**Toushirou rolled his eyes. "Idiot." **

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

**A/N: I have some good news for you all! Originally, this was supposed to be the last chapter but I shall be continuing it. I wasn't happy with ending the story there and it took me a while to come up with a decent ending that would round this story out. AND IT'S BRILLIANT! **

***cough* Well, I think so. SugarFox and I came up with it together. **

**As you've probably gathered, I am adjusting certain events from the actual manga. So yes, Aizen is defeated but Ichigo keeps his powers. In other words the new characters just coming into the manga aren't featuring at all in my story, okay? **

**The next chapter may take a little bit longer to get posted. School has started up again and I've just entered Matric. For those of you who don't know, that's the final year of High School. So I'm quite busy. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading. **

**Please REVIEW!**


	7. Stubborn is Stupid

**I AM SO SINCERELY SORRY! **

**To anyone who follows this story, I am incredibly sorry that I haven't updated in… well, forever. **

**A number of factors contributed to this. 1) My little brothers got me into watching Naruto. 2) I rediscovered one of the pairings from Vampire Knight that I adore and started a FanFic about them. I'll post it when I'm done, it's incredibly cute. 3) My beta's life was really stressful, as is mine at the moment and I'm relishing every rare opportunity that I get to write. Please don't blame us guys; high school comes first. **

**Luckily Episode 316 came out and I realized that I had been neglecting my Bleach stories. For anyone who hasn't seen Episode 316 yet, go watch it on YouTube or something. I'm seriously beginning to form a theory that the filler-creator-people are secret Hitsukarin lovers and read FanFiction in their spare time… Honestly, the Ichigo-protective-brother moment was just perfect! **

**To make my absence up to you guys, here's an EXTRA long chapter! Enjoy!**

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [Chapter 7; Stubborn is Stupid]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

The room was dimly lit, a single overhead lamp glowing eerily above a sterile white examination table. A single shadow moved about the room, flitting over the walls and busying itself over a workbench. In contrast to the room's dismal atmosphere, the man was humming. A pale painted face with leering eyes and ever-grinning teeth stared out harshly from the monotone of his facial skin as he ogled his latest creation proudly, looming over it with a mad gleam in his eye.

"Ah…" he sighed contentedly. "It is finished." He scrutinized his work from multiple angles, nodding as he found it to be satisfactory. The little device on the bench had given him some trouble to begin with but then, a mere two days ago, it had disappeared. And so he had been forced to create yet another one. If he developed a concept then he had to create a test product to ensure that his theories were flawless. Now, with the replacement completed, he was finally satisfied.

He stepped back. All that was left was to test it.

Glass vials clinked and he spun on his heel, eyes sharp for the cause of the sound. "Who goes there?"

The silence of his lab greeted him. His large eyes roved over the room, searching every darkened corner from his viewpoint against the workbench. Finally determining that it had been nothing, he turned back to face the workbench, missing the fleeting shadow skimming over the floor and disappearing hurriedly.

His hand reached for the device to test it – and gripped air.

"NOO!" His shriek pierced through the Twelfth Division, making several members drop their current experiments and break test tubes in shock of the heinous sound.

The door to their captain's room was slightly ajar, swinging ever so slightly on its hinge. From behind it, frantic mutterings and yells were heard. "Where? What happened? Where is it?"

"Mayuri-sama?" The fevered man paused in his search to glance over at the doorway. His fukutaicho stood silhouetted in it.

"Nemu!" Perfect, just the girl he needed. "Where is my latest creation?"

"It appears to be missing, Mayuri-sama."

"Don't tell me things I already know, stupid girl! Where is it?"

Nemu kept her straight face. "I am unable to answer that, Mayuri-sama."

"Tch." The scientist cast his eyes around wildly. "Useless."

It had to have been taken. No- it could not have been. It had been behind him on the bench the entire time. It was impossible for it to have simply vanished like that. Impossible. Nothing escaped him. Nothing.

And as such, there was only the explanation that his creation was still, in fact, somewhere in this room. Because nobody stole from Mayuri.

"Nemu, start looking."

* * *

Toushirou was irritated. Scowling, he reached up yet again and unwound another layer of bandage from his head. The rate at which he was getting sent into the Fourth Division was ridiculous. Soi Fon was a good but harsh teacher and her methods were simple: Beat it in.

Well, Toushirou couldn't say that they hadn't worked – for the most part. He was actually now able to block some of her attacks and he was getting hit less often. Also the fact that he caught on quickly and was a fast learner had saved him many bruises.

"Do you understand, Hitsugaya-taicho?" He glanced up at the rather intimidating motherly captain of the Fourth Division. "You must take it easy. The last blow that Soi Fon-taicho inflicted upon you looked to be in a rather soft spot." He averted his eyes and continued unwrapping the bandage. "Have you been knocked out on the back of the neck before?"

He grimaced. Soi Fon's methods worked… except that even after her two days of training, he still hadn't been able to see the blow to the back of the neck coming. And she'd moved remarkably similar to how Karin did! Why hadn't he managed to block that? He turned his attention back to the medical captain who was still waiting for an answer.

"Yes, Unohana." He admitted to this fact rather grudgingly, knowing that the exceptional healer would have been able to pick up on his lie.

The woman scrutinized him. "Whom by?"

Damn, he couldn't answer that. He'd go with the fall-back. "I slipped."

"You slipped?" She asked dubiously.

"Yes." He gritted his teeth.

There was a pregnant silence. "You seem to have acquired a habit of klutziness as of late, Hitsugaya-taicho." He tried to keep his expression neutral. "Would you care for some co-ordination classes?"

"NO!" He snapped, frowning up at the older woman. He deposited the wrapped up bandage on the table beside him, swinging his legs out of the bed. "Thank you for treating me. I have to go."

As he exited the doorway, he only just made out the fukutaicho's voice as she spoke to her captain. "Ano… is he going to be alright?"

"Oh yes. A little food and water and he'll be fine."

They were making it sound like klutziness could be cured through rest and relaxation. Not that he was clumsy. No, he just had to tell everybody that he was so that nobody would find out that he was actually betraying Soul Society and protecting outlaws!

True, the Vizard weren't exactly on the Wanted List anymore, but they most certainly weren't on the Allies List either. He sighed as he raked a hand through his disarrayed hair, trying to get some semblance of order into it after having it pressed down by the bandage.

The soutaicho had strategically avoided the subject of the Vizard up until this point during every captain's meeting since the war, filling the time instead with new recruits and repair bills and record taking. After the war the number of new recruits signing up for the Shinigami Academy had plummeted to virtually zero. Perhaps the reality of such a huge-scale war breaking out had driven home the point that a Shinigami was, in actual fact, a soldier. And as soldiers they needed to partake in large wars such as the one that Aizen had just put them through.

As of late, the Hollows had begun stirring again and attacks seemed more frequent.

Luckily Karakura, the center of all spiritual energy at this time, was well protected thanks to the substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki. It gave the Soul Society one less thing to worry about.

Toushirou continued his walk along some more secluded walkways, preferring to take a slightly longer route back to his division before he faced his paperwork. He just needed a bit of air. And time to think.

"Taicho!" He was ripped from his musings as a high-pitched and girlish voice called out to him. Turning his head slightly, he spotted his overly-happy fukutaicho heading his way with a huge grin plastered onto her face and her right hand waving high above her head.

He grimaced as he realized that the quiet was gone. "Matsumoto," he said as she came to a stop beside him. "What is it now?"

His subordinate seemed giddy. "Well, are you coming taicho?" she asked as though continuing a conversation from before.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"To the gate! I thought we were going to go see Karin-chan today!"

Toushirou gritted his teeth. Perhaps promising his fukutaicho that she could accompany him to the Living World the next time hadn't been such a good idea. "No, I did not," Toushirou insisted.

"Oh, yes you did, taicho." Matsumoto pouted, crossing her arms under her boobs. "You said we'd go soon!"

He sighed. "Soon, Matsumoto. Soon. That doesn't mean today. And what are you doing outside the office anyway? Aren't you supposed to be doing paperwork?"

She waved her hand at him dismissively. "Details, taicho, details." He glowered as she procured a small object from her cleavage. "But we've got to go today. In fact, we've got to go right now."

"And why, tell me, do we have to go now?" Toushirou grumbled.

"Because, taicho, Mayuri-taicho would get mad if he found me with one of these." Toushirou's eyes widened as he caught sight of a Reiatsu Amplification Device on his fukutaicho's palm.

"That's…"

"He just finished it so we can go right away! I've already made the arrangements with Urahara-san. He's letting us use one of his spare rooms in the shop to store these, isn't it great?"

Privately, Toushirou thought that most things that the shop owner did were anything but great. The man was so brilliant that he bordered on insane. In fact, Toushirou found the man to be somewhat dangerous and unsettling. That, and he seemed to always add a catch onto his 'Free Deals'. Toushirou understood the logic of leaving the reiatsu amplification devices at Urahara's shop to prevent anyone in the Soul Society from stopping by the office to see either of them and just finding two scientific devices giving off reiatsu. However, the shop owner's motives were, as ever, a mystery to him.

"Yes. Wonderful." He replied, still glaring at his fukutaicho. "What's the catch?"

For a split second, Toushirou thought that he saw guilt flash through her eyes before hurriedly being masked again. "Oh, nothing really. Urahara-san just wants to examine them!" Toushirou didn't believe her. Urahara was smart enough to know that he could figure such a device out on his own. The chances were that he'd already done so.

Shooting the device one last skeptic look, Toushirou sighed once. "Fine. We'll go." Cheering, Matsumoto fell into step beside him as he began heading over towards the senkai gate. He knew that they had to hurry or else Mayuri would find them. "By the way," Toushirou began, "How exactly did you manage to get that?"

Giggling in a silly way and raising a hand to cover her mouth, she looked pleased with herself for a moment. "Oh, I just snuck in."

Toushirou's eyes widened. Nobody snuck into Mayuri's lab unless they had a death-wish which, Toushirou knew, Matsumoto didn't have. Either a person had to be suicidal or just plain stupid. She was perhaps ditzy but definitely not stupid, which left…

"Are you drunk?"

She hiccoughed. "No." Her voice was laced with false sweetness and Toushirou frowned.

"I thought I'd confiscated everything." In truth, he had left her two bottles because he had felt she deserved them after covering for him the last time. Obviously she had another hiding place that he had yet to discover. He'd have to find it later. "Sober up, I'm not taking you along if you're walking in square circles."

"Moh," she whined. "But taicho-"

"No buts, just do it. I don't care how; dunk your head under a tap, do a handstand, something, just get it done."

She pouted. "You're no fun."

"And you're impossible. Drinking in the middle of the day." He grumbled.

Matsumoto just laughed before skipping off ahead, in search of the nearest fountain. "But that's the best time!"

* * *

His pencil scratched over the white sheet of paper in front of him, writing out an answer to a math problem. He paused for a moment, his frown deepening, before he sighed in frustration and reached for his eraser. Good thing he was using a pencil.

He brushed the eraser remains away from his page and tried the problem from the beginning. He got two lines in before gritting his teeth and violently erasing once more. He pressed too hard and ripped the page.

"Gah!" He pushed his chair away from the desk, glaring at the offending piece of paper as though his glare could send it up in flames.

A girl looked up from her seated position on the bed, her back leant against the wall. "What now, Ichigo?" She seemed annoyed that she'd been disturbed from her reading.

"Nothing." The orange-head replied irritably, scowling at his eraser.

The girl cast him a look before glancing at the problems in front of him. "Having trouble with your homework?"

"Obviously."

She sighed once and closed her book, marking it with a slip of pink, rabbit print paper that she'd nicked from Yuzu's room. "That's what you get for ditching class all the time."

Ichigo rounded on her. "Oh, so I'm ditching now? Last time I checked, killing off Hollows was a public service, not _ditching_!"

Rukia raised her eyebrow at him. "It's both, moron."

He growled angrily at her and Rukia looked at him more closely. He was looking sort of worn down, perhaps a little pale. His day hadn't begun too well either, what with having his father kick him down the stairs and nearly breaking his nose, closely followed by his teacher reprimanding him about the shoddy essay that he'd handed in two days earlier. This math homework was just the strawberry on top, so to speak.

"If you want, I can ask the Soul Society to send another Shinigami over here." She offered.

Ichigo pulled his chair back in, carefully tearing out the ripped page from his book. "No, it's okay. I don't need any help."

She frowned. "Don't be an idiot, Ichigo. You need more support."

"No, that's not what I mean."

Rukia watched his back as he bent over his homework. She sighed again, picking her book back up. "Okay. I understand." She had a suspicion of exactly why he didn't want any more Shinigami in Karakura but she wasn't going to say anything about it unless he brought the subject up.

A while later his pencil stopped its scratching. "Hey, Rukia."

"Hm?" she asked without looking up.

"Do you… want to go see the Vizard later today?"

This time she glanced up, seeing him still sitting with his back to her. A slow smile spread over her face. "Yeah. Sure." It would be nice to see them all again.

* * *

It was only afternoon when Toushirou and Matsumoto were walking down the road in the World of the Living and the street lamps weren't lit yet.

"Ah," Matsumoto sighed, raising her arms above her head and stretching. "It's so good to be back! It sure hasn't changed much since the war."

Toushirou agreed silently but continued walking. He wanted to get away from the Urahara store as quickly as possible. The man was still as unpredictable as he remembered. Toushirou had expected the shop-keeper to question their motives for giving the Soul Society the false impression that they were visiting him but instead the man had merely smiled from beneath his hat and directed them to leave the reiatsu amplifiers in a room. Urahara had locked it himself and then proceeded to shoo them out the door.

Toushirou frowned. Urahara must have figured it all out, though exactly how remained a mystery at the moment. Perhaps Shinji had spoken to him?

"How long are we gonna stay with these secret outlaws, taicho? I wanna go shopping afterwards." He found that his fukutaicho was taking this whole issue far too lightly.

"Matsumoto, do you not understand the fact that we are going to see people who are in hiding from the Soul Society?"

He glanced to the side, watching her face assume a more serious look. "Of course I get that, taicho. I just can't believe it." He shot her a questioning look and she sighed. "It's… not something I ever pictured you doing; sneaking around behind the Soul Society's back. You can't blame me if I'm still in denial!"

He looked ahead of him again, thinking about what Matsumoto had said. She was right, he was sneaking around and going against the Soul Society. But strangely, he didn't feel even remotely guilty about it. After all, these people weren't criminals per se. More like… falsely convicted. He grimaced at his poor reasoning. No, the Vizard weren't criminals. They were just on a different side to the Soul Society. But if he was going to see people on a different side to the one he was on, didn't that make him a traitor?

He shook the thoughts from his head. He was worrying far too much. If Karin could hear him right now she'd smack him upside the head and tell him to stop giving himself more grey hairs than he already had. He almost smirked. Yes, that sounded exactly like something that Karin would do.

"This is going to be so fun, taicho! I can't wait to meet these mysterious people who beat you up but you still go back to! And once we're done there, perhaps I can still hit the shops and stop by Orihime-chan's house so we can make some delicious food again! Shame, Rukia-san tells me that the poor girl has been looking somewhat down since the end of the war. She needs some cheering up. That sun-less world that she was trapped in for so long made her way too pale. One of these days I'm whisking that girl off to the beach for a tanning session and then straight to the mall for a shopping spree and all-you-can-eat ice-cream buffet-"

Toushirou tuned her out. Her mindless rambling faded into the background as he returned to his own thoughts. He hadn't heard much about the other human's conditions in the World of the Living, mostly because he hadn't asked, but also because he'd been far too buried in paperwork. He remembered the stack waiting on his desk and the stunned look of his third seat when he'd announced that he and Matsumoto were going to see Urahara about something. The officer had made Toushirou repeat himself, just to make sure that he wasn't hearing things and that the little taicho truly was foregoing paperwork for something else.

He sighed. If he'd shocked his subordinate that much by telling him that he was putting his paperwork off, then he truly must be a workaholic. Just like Matsumoto had told him. Perhaps taking a small break now and again wouldn't be too bad. Then that way he could get his division used to the fact that he would disappear sometimes so that they wouldn't question it. It would most certainly be easier to go and visit the Vizard like that.

He focused his eyes as they turned the corner and the shops began to thin. They were nearing the warehouse district and with it the Vizard's hideout. Just a few more minutes of walking and they'd arrive. He wondered if Karin was already there.

Matsumoto glanced at her small taicho from the corner of her eye. He hadn't even responded when she'd asked him a question a while back and even now gave no acknowledgment to the fact that she'd stopped talking. His eyes were focused straight ahead and an almost eager glint was in his eyes. Was he looking forward to arriving so much? He may not have noticed, but his pace had slowly begun to quicken. He was definitely walking faster than he had been upon arriving at the Urahara store. Matsumoto smiled softly at her captain and directed her own gaze to their vicinity. It looked like a warehouse district.

"We're here."

Matsumoto came to a stop beside her taicho, in front of empty space. She glanced at her taicho and found him looking straight ahead of himself and she forced her own eyes to focus on the space ahead of her. It seemed incredibly hard to do, like they just continued wanting to slide over it.

She blinked. The space wasn't empty. There was a warehouse in it. Surrounded by a barrier. She frowned slightly. And she'd missed the large structure _how_?

Toushirou stepped up to the barrier, glancing up and down at it, waiting for a door to slide open in it. Nothing happened.

Frowning, he waited a little longer, wondering if Hacchi hadn't noticed him. No, Hacchi's kidou and detection skills were superb. There was no way that he wouldn't notice him unless… he was severely distracted. Toushirou placed his hand onto the barrier.

A few seconds later a large rectangular opening appeared beside him.

"That's so cool taicho!" Matsumoto exclaimed, clapping her hands. "How did you do that?"

"I didn't."

"Huh?"

Toushirou stepped through it, wondering what had kept Hacchi from noticing them. "Someone inside opened it up for us. This barrier is impenetrable to any and all Shinigami." Walking through the warehouse door ahead of his fukutaicho, he failed to notice her stunned expression. He glanced around in the dimly lit warehouse for the trapdoor and finally found it sticking out from amongst the rubble.

"Come on, it's just down here." He told her over his shoulder before descending the flight of stairs. Matsumoto hurried after him, hot on his heels. There was no way that she was going to get left behind in this creepy place.

"Watch your step. I don't know why they don't install proper lights in this place." Toushirou muttered the last bit, almost complaining. The bottom of the stairway came into sight, bright and sore to the eyes as they entered the large, underground training hall.

Toushirou closed his eyes for a moment again, trying to get them accustomed to the harsh light of the underground cellar.

"HYAH!"

On instinct, Toushirou stepped back, raising his arms above his head just in time to block the punch to the top of his head. He pried his eyes open to see a surprised Hiyori staring back at him. He suppressed the smirk, though part of it must have slipped out because she instantly glowered at him, baring her teeth.

"Don't dodge while I'm trying to hit you!" And she kicked him in the gut, making him double over. He coughed once before rearing back up.

"What the hell was that for, idiot? That freakin' hurt!"

"It was s'posed to, doofus! What time do you think 'yer showin up anyway? You always come at the most inconvenient times, you know that? Get your act together!"

"Why you-"

"Hitsugaya!" A cheery but somewhat nasal voice called out and Toushirou noticed Shinji sauntering up to them. The tall, gangly blonde was holding his nose while a small trickle of blood dripped down from it and his right eye was swollen.

Nonetheless, Shinji was determined to play the part of the gentleman. "And, who is this lovely lady right here?"

"Ah," Toushirou suddenly remembered that Matsumoto was still standing behind him. "This is my fukutaicho, Matsumoto Rangiku."

"H-hello." She said, somewhat flustered. She stared at Shinji and Hiyori, recognizing them. They were the masked warriors who had shown up and taken care of all the Menos Grande and then jumped into the other fights. The ones with the Hollow powers. The Vizard. And her taicho, her little taicho had known where they were since before the war. Needless to say, she was stunned.

Shinji grinned from beneath his hand. "Well, Matsumoto, it's a pleasure to meet-" Hiyori's fist met with the underside of his jaw.

"Idiot! Don't get distracted so easily! I'm not through with you yet!"

He clutched his jaw, grimacing while the shorter girl just huffed, irritation rolling off her in waves. Shinji turned towards Toushirou, leaning down towards him. "Hiyori's in a horrible mood today."

"Of course I am!" she snapped, growling at them. "How can I not be when my best damn student keeps getting beat up?"

Toushirou stiffened slightly.

"You're the one who keeps beating her up." Shinji commented under his breath. Hiyori shot him a venomous look.

"Oi!" A smallish black shoe whizzed out of nowhere and smacked Hiyori on the back of her head, making her stumble a step forward to watch herself.

She whirled around, holding the tender spot. "What the hell, Karin?"

Toushirou's eyes immediately flicked over to where the shoe had come from. They widened slightly. Karin stood, a few meters away. Her one hand was supporting her on a rock and the other hung limply at her side. Bruises coloured her lightly tanned skin, an ugly mix of grayish purple and mud yellow while the odd scrape brought a hint of red into her visage.

But she was grinning.

"Hey, Toushirou."

He simply stared, not quite wanting to believe it.

Karin huffed a little, reading the look on his face easily. "Don't get so worked up, you know I'll be fine in a moment." It was true, even as he watched her bruises were slowly, agonizingly slowly, fading away. Why were her regenerative abilities so slow? Was it because she was too tired?

"You're… that girl from the Kendo tournament." Karin turned her head towards the tall woman who was standing behind Toushirou.

"Yeah. You're Matsumoto?" A nod was the answer and Karin smiled.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kurosaki Karin."

Matsumoto's eyes widened slightly in recognition of the surname, just as Toushirou had thought they would. Perhaps he should have warned her about that particular issue.

"Yes, Matsumoto. Ichigo's little sister. Now drop it. "Toushirou told her before she could go off on a tirade and make Karin uncomfortable. Karin shot him a grateful look and he shrugged, showing that he'd seen it.

Karin turned her attention back to Hiyori. "Come on already. Quit taking out your frustration at me out on the others and get back to training me!"

Hiyori scowled but stomped on back over to Karin anyway, her hands buried deep in the pockets of her tracksuit pants.

"Oi." Karin turned her head back in time to see Toushirou toss something at her. She easily caught it and looked down at her shoe, then back to Toushirou.

"Thought you might need it," he told her.

Karin held his eyes for a moment before smiling slightly and giving a slight nod. "Yeah." She slipped it back on. "Thanks."

Toushirou looked after her as she hurried to catch up with Hiyori, her injuries healed to the point that they no longer bothered her while moving. That didn't mean though that they looked much better.

She was too darn stubborn to let him help her in the fight. Besides, this was training. So helping her would only be detrimental. She was too strong willed to give up or stop her training now just because she was tired. She'd push herself until she passed out if nobody stopped her. Toushirou clenched his teeth. She really was an idiot. No wonder Hiyori was angry at her. He tried to ignore the twisting in his gut that was telling him to just march over there and command her to rest because that wouldn't work. She'd just yell and be angry at him and more determined than ever to continue. He knew that. So he'd helped in the only way he could think of; returning her shoe.

It was a far-cry from what he wanted to do but he knew it was really all she'd let him do in this situation. At least like this her foot would be more protected.

"Well," Shinji said, giving his nose one last experimental tweak, "we've got some snacks out." Toushirou fell into step beside the taller man, Matsumoto hurrying to catch up. "Oi!" Shinji called out, clapping his hand on Toushirou's shoulder. "Check out who's here!"

They emerged into the small congregation of rocks where numerous figures were scattered around. A tall, grey haired man gave a wide grin. "Hitsugaya! Glad to see you back!"

"Yeah," he replied. "It was a bit unplanned actually." He shot Matsumoto a look, causing his fukutaicho to give a satisfied smirk. She knew stealing that device from Mayuri would have its perks.

"Ah, so this is your fukutaicho who was covering for you?" Kensei jumped from his rock and reached out a hand. "The name's Kensei."

Matsumoto smiled slightly and took his hand, shaking it. "Matsumoto Rangiku."

"A woman?" another girl spoke, looking up from her magazine and adjusting her pink-framed glasses.

"Don't get any ideas, Lisa." Kensei told her.

"I'm not!"

"Ah," Rose sat up straighter, dusting his crisp jacket off. "A respectable young lady in our midst at last."

"I'm respectable!" Lisa interjected but Rose ignored her.

"Tell me, dear Matsumoto, do you enjoy sophistication?" he asked.

Matsumoto blinked twice before tapping a finger to her chip. "I… like shopping?" She answered as a question, not sure if that was the answer that the man had been looking for.

Rose smiled. "Evidently. Would you please come over and answer a few questions for me on the current dress styles in all worlds? We don't get out very often over here."

A huge smile plastered onto her face, Matsumoto literally bounced over to the man, already babbling away before she'd even sat down. Toushirou shook his head as Shinji tapped his nose again.

"I'm gonna go wash the blood off my face. It feels horrible when it dries." He told them before meandering off in the direction of a tap.

Kensei shrugged. "Sorry, Hiyori was irritated today and Shinji kind of got in the way. Hacchi had to jump in for a moment."

So that's why he'd taken a while to open the barrier for them. "No, that's fine. So why is she even more irritable than normal?"

"Didn't she tell you?" Kensei asked while taking a seat against a nearby rock. "Karin is just way too stubborn to quit and Hiyori is getting annoyed with it." He stretched his right arm. "If Karin didn't have that Instant Regeneration ability she'd probably be in hospital right now."

Toushirou stiffened, his hands clenching up and his muscles tensing. He forced himself to ease them again. He had to stay calm.

Kensei noted his reaction and sighed. "Sorry. But it's true."

"I know." He replied, referring to Karin's stubbornness. That girl was far too stubborn for her own good at times.

"Hiyori was right back there you know. You did come at a bad time." Kensei scratched his head, giving a deep sigh. "If only you'd come in a few days again, you wouldn't have had to go through with watching all of this."

Toushirou shook his head. "No. It's good that I came." He paused for a while, trying to relax his hands. "That way I'll know what Karin went through to get stronger." And I'll be able to help her afterwards, he thought to himself.

There was a silence between the two before Kensei smiled. "You sure are something kid." He muttered, almost too soft for Toushirou to hear.

Over at the more open area of the training field, Karin and Hiyori took their stances.

* * *

Where in the world was the boy? Honestly, it just wasn't like him to simply vanish into thin air like this, especially not when there were huge stacks of paperwork looming on his desk! What on earth could have happened? Was he perhaps in trouble? Or called to a meeting? But then why couldn't he sense his reiatsu?

The man furrowed his eyebrows in worry as he continued down the halls of the Tenth Division. He'd asked some of the squad members if they knew where their taicho had gone but all he'd received were blank stares or, in the case of the third seat, a rather jumpy reaction and some babbling about time off.

Preposterous. Hitsugaya-taicho simply didn't take _time off_ without a legitimate reason. It was unheard of. But perhaps that's why the third seat was so jittery?

The man finally exited the large shoji doors that led to the Tenth Division and stepped back out into the stone passageways of Seireitei, squinting his eyes briefly at the bright sunshine above him. It was just before sunset, making the sunlight even more pronounced and brighter than usual. The whole sky was just hinting on yellow with wisps of white cotton-wool clouds drifting lazily along. A beautiful sight really.

"Ukitake!" The man glanced to his side to catch sight of another man wearing a kitsch pink flower kimono coming towards him with his hands tucked securely in the sleeves of his uniform.

"Kyouraku." He greeted with a wave.

His friend came to a stop beside him. "What were you doing here at the Tenth? Giving Hitsugaya-taicho some candy again?"

"Ah, no." Ukitake brushed his white hair out of his face. "I was actually looking for Hitsugaya-taicho to ask him about a certain matter which we discussed the other day but I'm afraid he's not there."

"A matter?" Kyouraku asked, his interest immediately peaked. "What matter?"

Ukitake smiled at his friend. "It's a secret I'm afraid."

"Aw," he mocked, adjusting his straw hat. "I'm not important enough?"

"You know that's not it." Ukitake replied, giving a sigh. "It's just that… I promised."

A silence followed as the two men simply stood beside one another, basking in the near sunset.

"I see." Kyouraku said, dropping the subject. He understood secrets. If it was something personal then he had no right to be snooping around. It was as simple as that. "So, the child prodigy wasn't in?"

"No, he wasn't. And neither was Matsumoto-fukutaicho. The third seat was mumbling something about 'time off' but I don't think I believe him."

Kyouraku's eyebrows raised into his hairline. "Time off? That sure doesn't sound like our Hitsugaya-taicho."

"I know. And I can't sense his reiatsu either. It's like he's just… gone."

Kyouraku took a moment to search for himself. "You're right. Nothing. Where do you think he could have gone?"

Ukitake frowned as he thought. His conversation with Hitsugaya was still fresh in his mind. The boy had looked forlorn in a way, like he'd been longing to be somewhere else. As such, Ukitake had told him to just go ahead and go with it and that making himself love-sick over it wouldn't help.

He'd been joking for the most part and even the 'love-sick' comment had only been half sincere, though perhaps now Ukitake was reconsidering. After all, Hitsugaya-taicho had mentioned a girl and the way he'd spoken of her had left Ukitake a little nonplussed. It had been so different from his usual cold and detached demeanor.

"I have an idea," Ukitake said slowly.

Kyouraku shot his old friend a solemn look. "Does it have anything to do with this matter that you discussed?"

"Yes."

"Well then, where do you suppose he is?"

"My guess is… the World of the Living." Kyouraku's eyebrows rose again as he digested this.

"I see. Well, if you want to know if he is, we can just go ask Nanao-chan." Kyouraku smiled at his friend. "She'll find out for us quickly."

Ukitake thought about it for a moment. "Alright."

* * *

Death. She just missed it by inches. Yelling loudly, Hiyori swung her sword at her again, shaving the tips of her black hair away. Cursing, Karin steadied herself, her heels digging into the air for more grip. She spun on her heel, only just missing getting cleaved in half by a fired-up Hiyori. She attempted a kick but got blocked and was forced to lunge forward, under Hiyori's next strike to avoid decapitation.

"What the hell is with you? You tryn'a kill me?" Karin yelled, shaking her fist at her friend. Hiyori only scowled.

"Just because you're too damn stubborn to call it a day!" She lunged again and Karin ducked, managing to land a punch to Hiyori's shoulder.

"Like heck I'm gonna call it a day!"

Hiyori swung again and her blade cut a shallow groove into Karin's arm. "And that's why you're stubborn!"

"I thought you knew I was stubborn!" Karin retorted, bringing her leg swinging around and smashing into the side of Hiyori's head.

Hiyori merely shook it once, hardly fazed by the impact. "Of course I know! That's why I'm telling you to quit it!"

"Why?" Karin drew back her fist, tensing up in order to put more force behind her blow this time.

"Just because, idiot!" And Hiyori pulled on her Hollow mask. Karin barely had a moment to evade the next attack from Hiyori, earning a deeper slice into her forearm this time. She gritted her teeth.

Dodging another blow and flipping in the air to come down behind Hiyori, she had enough time to hurriedly pull on her own mask. Her eyes widened as she saw Hiyori swing round. Luckily, the tip of her sword had only grazed her mask. Karin was glad that her mask was so durable. That attack had barely left a scratch.

Launching herself forward with new speed, Karin was able to match Hiyori's movements. Narrowly missing the edge of her friend's sword again, she ducked under it and brought her elbow smashing into Hiyori's solar plexus. She gagged, giving Karin enough time to land yet another punch to her head, this one having more of an effect on the girl.

However, Hiyori quickly recovered and Karin was forced back again, her eyes trained intensely on her opponent. Hiyori attacked again, swinging her sword and driving Karin back a step. Using a momentary advantage, Karin swept Hiyori's legs out from under her, causing the girl to plummet downwards.

Seeing her chance, Karin raised her right hand, forming a claw from it and focusing her reiatsu into it. Direct, focus, condense. Direct, focus, condense. A bright, light blue light began forming in her palm, pulsing as the power built up.

Hiyori, catching sight of this, hurriedly tried to right herself as the bright blue cero came shooting right at her. The back of her jacket got singed. Shooting towards Karin, she managed to catch the girl off guard – she hadn't moved from her position yet.

Karin skidded back. "Why?" she asked, her voice layered from the mask. "Why do you want me to quit so badly?"

Hiyori was silent for a moment before she readjusted her sword in her hands. "You're an idiot. I shouldn't even have to tell you!" And she leapt right at Karin, giving her another slice just above her chest but Karin ignored it. Pain was a distant feeling when fighting with the Hollow mask. Any feeling was distant really. At the beginning, it had made Karin wary of her Hollowfied self, unwilling to wear the mask.

She'd gotten used to it eventually but the strangeness and… wrongness that accompanied wearing it never seemed to wear off. Hiyori said that it never did. Karin was starting to get the feeling that she was right.

However, right now, it was proving very useful. She'd barely felt it when Hiyori's sword sliced her. She realized that she'd been cut but there was an almost numb feeling about it. She knew she was supposed to have felt it but she hadn't. It still made her wary.

Quickly, Karin twisted on her heel, swinging it towards Hiyori only to have it blocked by the flat of her blade. For a moment, the two struggled against one another before they broke away. Leaping to the side, Karin managed to catch Hiyori off balance long enough to jump into the air and bring her heel smashing down towards Hiyori's head. Hiyori, however, sidestepped and took the advantage to deliver her own kick to Karin's ribcage, snapping two of them.

With a startled yelp of surprise, Karin was sent hurtling into a huge boulder, crumbling it to dust and making it rise up biliously into the air. She didn't move.

Scowling, Hiyori disintegrated her mask, coming to land beside the large pile of rubble just as a few rocks wobbled. Slowly, Karin's arm emerged until she had pulled her upper body from the rubble, coughing dust. Her mask sat, half shattered, above her head and slowly fell to pieces as she inhaled air. Wordlessly, Hiyori strode over to her friend and held out her hand.

Karin looked at it for a moment before grabbing a hold of it, letting Hiyori pull her up. Now that her mask was gone, her injuries felt very real. She grimaced but kept silent, determined not to show any weakness.

Sighing, Hiyori rolled her eyes. "Idiot." And she slung Karin's arm around her shoulders, helping her back to the gathering of Vizard.

As they neared the circle, Karin kept her eyes averted from the figure sitting at the base of a large rock, his gaze trained on her. She didn't want to look at him or deal with his reprimanding right now.

No such luck. Hiyori seemed to be in the mood to make her life hell. The short, aggressive blonde steered Karin straight for the boulder and stopped right beside Toushirou, who was glaring up at her. She obstinately refused to meet his eyes.

"Here ya go. Heal up here for the moment." She took Karin's arm from around her shoulders and lowered her to the ground, allowing the girl to fall into a sitting position against the boulder. Having done that, she straightened up again, her hands on her hips. Hiyori caught the dirty look she was receiving from Toushirou and her eyes flickered briefly to his in defiance before turning away. "Oi, Kensei! Is the food done yet?"

She wandered off, leaving Karin sitting by the boulder along with Toushirou. She closed her eyes, deciding to feign sleep. Perhaps like that he'd drop the issue and give her time to focus on her regeneration.

Just a few meters away, Matsumoto made as though to stand up but an arm blocked her way. Looking up at the owner of the arm, she spotted Shinji.

"What are you doing? Are you just going to let Karin-chan stay injured like that? Why aren't you-"

"Just watch."

"Huh?"

Shinji turned his head towards her slightly, lowering his arm. "Just watch."

Matsumoto turned her head back to Karin who was leaning back against the boulder with her eyes closed. The air around her seemed thicker and heavier and it was wavering, making the area around her somewhat distorted. Matsumoto's eyes widened as, slowly, the injuries on Karin's body began to fade.

"She doesn't need our help; she's fine." Shinji told her before a grin spread across his face. "Plus, isn't this the perfect time for some matchmaking?"

Blinking, Matsumoto assessed the situation once more and had to suppress a grin. Shinji was absolutely right! How hadn't she seen it? There was Karin, the injured girl, sitting right beside a potential love interest, her stoic taicho, who was shooting the girl _worried _looks! She nearly squealed.

Exchanging a quick look with Shinji, she nonchalantly strolled over to Love and Rose, shooing them off their rock, whilst Shinji had gotten Mashiro, Lisa and Hacchi in on the plan. Hiyori and Kensei were off cooking anyways.

Toushirou looked away from Karin for a moment when he noticed a sudden lack of activity, just in time to catch sight of a pink scarf disappearing behind a rock. He sighed and shook his head. All of the Vizard were, suspiciously, gone. Matsumoto… what in the world was that woman up to now?

He dismissed the thoughts from his mind, deciding that he wouldn't try to figure out the inner workings of his fukutaicho. It was probably a scary place to be.

Karin's eyes were closed and her face relaxed, as though she were just on the verge of dropping off to sleep. He knew that she was awake though, judging from the slightly tensed muscles in her arms.

He sighed, studying the bruises and bleeding cuts that she'd sustained during her last fight with Hiyori. He'd shot the blonde an accusing look earlier, even though he'd known that it wasn't her fault. Had Karin not been so stubborn about continuing so hard in her training, she wouldn't have gotten beaten up so badly. Noticing that a few strands of her black hair were sticking to her sweaty face, he carefully brushed them away, muttering gently under his breath, "You're such an idiot."

Beside him, Karin cracked an eye open, giving him a lopsided smile. "And you're a worry-wart. Stop giving yourself grey hair. You don't need it."

Toushirou stared at her for a moment before a slow, very rare smile spread over his face. It was hesitant and hardly there, but it was visible. How was this girl so predictable in some ways yet totally unexpected in others? "You're the one giving me grey hairs."

Her grey, mercury eyes sparked. "Yeah, I've been told that I'm a handful."

"They were right."

"You bet they were."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, each simply holding the other's eyes until they turned away, staring at nothing in particular.

But Toushirou wondered how long the quiet would last.

"Ne, Toushirou?"

"Hm?" He privately thought that they needed to come up with some better replies.

"Later on, are we gonna have a rematch?"

He froze at her words, trying not to show any signs of panic or uneasiness because that would certainly set her off. There was no way that he'd be able to fight her today, not with her just recovered from those injuries at any rate. Her instant regeneration was good, but it was still far too slow to heal her completely for a fight. There was just no way that he could bring himself to fight her like that. He couldn't.

But he couldn't outright deny her either. She'd just take it as an insult to her pride, as she did the last time.

He spoke in a low, lulling tone. "I'll fight you once you've fully developed your cero."

Karin's eyes flickered over to him and he met her stare. For a while they just locked eyes before a slight smile spread over Karin's tired face as she realized what he was trying to do. Toushirou sure was a sneaky guy. He didn't want to fight her now, she guessed because of her injuries, but didn't want her to blow up at him either. So instead he'd postponed their fight. That fact irked her a little, but the underlying promise that she was sure he hadn't even realized making, was that he was going to come back so that they could have their rematch.

So she merely grinned. "Deal."

* * *

It was a surprise for the two people who entered the Vizard lair later, to find more people gathered there than usual. At least they assumed that there were more people present due to the higher noise level currently going on.

Curious, the shorter of the two pulled ahead of her companion, eager to find out the source of the loud bangs and yells. Peering around a rock, her jaw hung open as she was faced with an incredibly comical sight. "Matsumoto-fukutaicho!"

All activity froze and several heads turned slowly towards the new arrival. The said strawberry-blonde woman blinked her big eyes twice. "Rukia-chan?" she asked as though registering the younger woman's presence. The fact seemingly hitting home, Matsumoto leapt to her feet, dropping the back of Shinji's shirt and leaving him to tumble into the dirt. "Rukia-chan!" And she flung her arms around the smaller, petite Shinigami, sending both of them crashing to the floor.

"ARGH!"

"Rukia-chan! I'm so glad to see you!"

Another individual with brightly coloured orange hair shot around the corner upon hearing Rukia's muffled cry as she hit the dirt. "Oi! What's going on-" He halted his sentence abruptly upon catching sight of the scene before him.

An empty pot clattered to the ground and Love scratched his head, slowly bending down to pick it back up. A sandal hit him across the face. "Leave it!"

Ichigo blinked once at the simmering blonde girl who had just whacked Love across the face. "Hiyori?"

"What?" She barked in his direction and he cowered, not wanting to be on the receiving end of her bad temper. He noted the dirty spatula she had tightly clasped in her right hand.

"Ichi-nii?" Ichigo turned his head until he spotted his little sister lying half buried beneath two very dazed people. Rose, shaking his head as though to clear it, brushed a few crumbs off his soiled jacket and attempted to push himself up from the floor, unpinning Karin's right arm and allowing her to move it again. Ichigo, however, was more focused on the other individual currently lying, on his back, on top of his little sister, a hand coming up to wipe a smudge of gravy from his forehead, his eyes clearly disorientated.

"Ow," the small figure mumbled as he pushed himself up with one arm.

"Toushirou…" Ichigo intoned dangerously and, slowly, the white-haired captain's eyes found his. "What, may I ask, are you doing on top of _my _little sister?"

Frowning, Toushirou looked absolutely confused for a moment. A snicker sounded from Hiyori and he shot her a glare before managing to gather his wits. The ground that he was sitting on didn't feel very solid. He glanced down only to come face to face with glittering, mercury eyes. "AH!" He shot up as though electrocuted, stumbled backwards to his feet and tripped backwards over a smaller rock.

The room burst out laughing.

"Taicho! Are you alright?" Matsumoto bolted into a seated position, releasing Rukia from her stranglehold.

Gasping, Rukia clutched at her neck, trying to get enough air again. Ichigo hit her on the back and she choked. "H-Hitsugaya-taicho?" she asked, spluttering a little.

Matsumoto was hovering over a grimacing Toushirou, who was getting to his feet again slowly, so as not to trip a second time. "Yes, Kuchiki." He answered rather irritably. He turned on his heel, so as to avoid all of the amused glances that he was receiving. Huffily, he sat himself down against the rock where Karin had propped herself up, a respectable distance between them.

"What are you doing here?" Rukia looked completely lost and turned a questioning gaze on the Vizard and, finding no answer there, then to Ichigo.

He just shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "I guess I forgot to tell you. Toushirou's been in on this."

"Hitsugaya-taicho," was the automatic response from the smaller captain.

Rukia's eyes grew wide after a second but she kept her voice steady as she addressed the taller substitute beside her. "How long?"

"Since before the war, Kuchiki." Toushirou spoke from his place against the rock. It was awkward for him to admit that he, the child prodigy, captain and stickler for the rules, was doing something that the Soul Society didn't know about and would most likely not approve of. There would be harsh consequences, he was sure, the loss of his title only being one of them. Imprisonment in the extreme case and execution if Yamamoto-soutaicho was in a bad mood. It was a matter of afterlife and second-death. Of course, that was assuming that he was caught, something that he wasn't planning on.

Not taking her eyes off Ichigo even while Toushirou was speaking, Rukia froze for a moment and Ichigo gulped. The other Vizard, Karin included, watched with bated breath for the show that they knew would follow.

Rukia exploded. "You idiot!" And she punched him on the head. "Why didn't you tell me? Here I was worrying that I was the only Shinigami who knew about this and that my position wasn't nearly high enough to swing anything in the case of an emergency and you had a freakin' _taicho _on your side?"

"Ow! Rukia! OW!"

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Quit it, midget!" Rukia's eyes flashed and Ichigo cringed.

While Rukia continued to bear down on her brother, Karin let a subtle smile settle onto her lips and she shook her head slightly. Those two acted about as mature as a pair of kindergartners who had just found out about cooties. She glanced over to Toushirou who was sitting beside her and she smiled again. Toushirou had kind of jolted up earlier too when he'd realized that he'd landed right on top of her with Rose earlier. Well, he'd been pretty out of it, not surprising seeing as Love had smacked him in the face just moments before.

She suddenly caught sight of something and, reaching over, used her hand to brush some small green objects out of Toushirou's white hair. His eyes immediately zipped over to hers and Karin was incredibly grateful that she could control her blushing so well. Instead, she just flashed him a lopsided smile. "You had peas in your hair."

He blinked at her once, not quite understanding, before he nodded once. "Okay."

Karin almost laughed. "Sit still." She brushed the last few vegetables out of his hair. It had been a miracle that their designated meal tonight should have been vegetables since normally it was nothing but meat and carbohydrates. And now their dinner had been reduced to the ingredients of a food fight.

She removed her hand from his hair and grinned at him. "There. All gone. But there sure were a lot in there. It's like you've got your own storage space in your hair."

Her words had the desired effect and Karin repressed a smirk as he glared at her, clenching his teeth.

"Aw, don't take it personal now Toush, it's a handy thing to have!"

"Shut it, I don't appreciate you referring to my head as a storage space."

She grinned devilishly. "Why? Afraid that it makes it sounds too empty?"

"You would know, huh, Karin?"

It was her turn to scowl. "I've known a few people."

"Right," he scoffed, turning away but his face held a hint of a smirk which Karin didn't miss. She shoved his shoulder and told him that he was an idiot.

"And you're insufferable," he retorted.

"Glad you noticed."

"Idiot."

"Oh shut it." She mumbled only half heartedly, leaning back against the rock and closing her eyes.

Ichigo, meanwhile, had managed to appease the fuming tempest in front of him and sent her on her way with Matsumoto and Rose. Now he and Shinji were engaged in a delicate observation mission, lying on top of a nearby rock, out of sight and their eyes trained intensely on the two people sitting against the rock. On Shinji's insistence, they had their hands cupped around their eyes to resemble binoculars. For a while, they just watched quietly as the two youngest people in the room exchanged jibes.

"They're cute." Shinji suddenly commented, softly.

Ichigo tensed up, something akin to acid boiling up his throat. "Hell no they're not!" He nearly yelled, though remembering that they were supposed to be stealthy, he kept his voice to a minimum.

Shinji shot him a disbelieving look, raising an eyebrow before turning back to spying. Ichigo soon joined him. In truth, the substitute was completely shell-shocked by the fact that the stoic, icy taicho was _teasing _his sister. Actually, he still couldn't bring himself to believe it.

But right in front of his eyes was the undeniable truth.

Watching his little sister's shining and happy eyes as she spoke to the twerp, Ichigo had to admit that Shinji had a point, however loathe he was to admit it. They were…_cute_. Ichigo shuddered. Karin would probably decapitate him for ever thinking that taboo word.

Down below, Toushirou scowled in displeasure at something and, laughing, Karin merely brushed him off.

But something else caught Ichigo's attention. Despite the scowl that the Tenth Division taicho wore on his face while Karin jibed at him, there was a sort of iciness missing from his eyes. And then, when his little sister reached over to ruffle the captain's hair, Ichigo nearly choked. Instead of swatting her hand away, like Ichigo would have been willing to bet his allowance on, the little midget… smiled!

It was feint and required a magnifying glass to be visible to the naked eye, but it was there! An actual, amused, smile!

Ichigo lowered his hands from his face, his eyes narrowing just slightly. Karin laughed again.

No, it looked like he couldn't kill Toushirou just yet. Maybe later. Later. But there was something else that the little taicho had just gotten himself into. Ichigo didn't care if there was something going on or not; the twerp had somehow gotten close to his sister and all those close to his sister had to deal with 'The Big Brother'.

A grim smile stretched over his face. He'd need to have a good, long talk with Toushirou one of these days.

Beside him, Shinji smirked, apparently on the same wavelength. "I'm helping."

* * *

He was in a tight spot, that much was for certain. In fact, the situation could hardly be worse. After all, if he were caught fraternizing with the enemy his shaky alliance with the good-guys would go down the drain and stay there to rot, just like it had been for the past… oh, 100 years.

The blonde haired man decided to go with his fallback. _Just keep smiling, Kisuke. Just keep smiling and maybe they'll go away._

No such luck however. His two visitors were incredibly, but not surprisingly, stubborn. After all, he had known these two for a good while now and they hadn't seemed to have changed all that much, even over a century.

"Nice place you got here," the man in the pink commented.

"Why, thank you, Kyouraku-taicho." Urahara cooed, deciding that it was high time to pull out the big guns: his fan.

"I hear that you have been keeping well, Urahara-san." Ukitake commented lightly.

"Of course, of course. Not having the Soul Society on my tail makes my life incredibly simple. Almost boring actually." His fan was a good distraction to his two guests and deterred somewhat from his actual words.

"Oh?" Kyouraku looked surprised but shrugged it off. "In any case, are-"

"Hitsugaya-taicho and Matsumoto-fukutaicho are currently busy." Urahara cut him off, waving cheerily. "In fact, I think they still will be for a long while. So why don't you hurry on back to the Soul Society and tell them that the little prodigy is doing fine and that he'll be back as soon as he finishes up his errand over here."

The two captains exchanged a confused look and Kyouraku tipped his hat over in the direction of a spare room. "But… aren't they just in there?" He could clearly sense the suppressed reiatsu of the taicho and fukutaicho emanating dully from the neighbouring room. True, there was something slightly off about it but he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, this was _Urahara's _place. He could have modified the walls for all he knew.

"Of course, why do you ask a silly question like that? Now, I am a rather busy man and have things that I must be getting on with so-" He stopped speaking though when several dulled voices from outside drew nearer. They seemed raised and agitated, as though arguing, and obviously oblivious to the danger that they were about to walk into. They were heading right for the shop!

"-wouldn't be in this situation if only you hadn't started that food fight."

"Me? It was Kensei!"

"Of course, blame the cook," a new, feminine voice added. "I'm just going to get a gigai to go visit Orihime-chan…"

"It was him! He _did _start it! He chucked that egg at me!"

"Only because you were so damn annoying."

"What d'you say?"

"He said that you were annoying, idiot." It sounded like Ichigo.

_Slap!_

"AH! What was that for? I wasn't even talking to you, midget!"

The voices were closer now and Urahara could recognize some of them. Kuchiki Rukia chose this very bad time to reply. "Idiot, you need to show people more respect, Ichigo!"

"Why the hell would I show this psycho-chick respect?"

_Slap!_

"OW! Hiyori!"

"You were askin' for that one, Ichi-nii."

"What, now you're on her side too?"

"You're over-reacting, Kurosaki," a cold voice said and Urahara brought his fan up closer to his face.

"I AM NOT!" At this, the door to the Urahara shop burst wide open, a disarray of flailing limbs and babbled squabbles tumbling into the cramped space.

"Oh, and you never do, Toush?" A small girl with black hair teased, her hand embedded in his white hair, ruffling it completely out of place.

Kyouraku and Ukitake's jaws dropped when the small taicho allowed her to mess up his hair for a moment before seemingly remembering himself and snapping at her, "Hands off the hair, Karin!"

"Yeah, Karin! Hands off his hair!" Ichigo yelled, though his glare was directed right at Toushirou.

"Stay outta this, Kurosaki," Toushirou sneered.

"Make me, twerp!"

"Ichigo!" Rukia's fist crashed into his skull again, sending him crashing to the floorboards and embedding his nose in them. "Don't threaten a captain! Respect, you moron! Respect!"

"Yeah, Ichigo," Shinji mimicked the strawberry's tone from earlier. "You need more respect."

Ichigo wrenched his splinter-filled face from the wooden floor to glare at the blonde. "Don't patronize me, Hirako!"

Hiyori looked mildly impressed. "Oh, a big word."

"SHUT UP!"

"Ahem." The polite interruption made the entire argument come to a screeching halt. Every single occupant of the room had frozen in their tracks, their wide eyes swinging around to where Urahara, Kyouraku and Ukitake sat staring at the large bunch of people.

Ukitake blinked, focused on Matsumoto and Toushirou standing mixed among this odd bunch and then at the door from behind which Toushirou and Matsumoto's reiatsu were still emanating. His gaze travelled back and forth a few times. "But… they're… why…"

The static silence in the room would have been enough to electrocute ten oxen.

"Shit."

Everyone thought that Ichigo's comment summed this up quite nicely.

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW! ^_^ **


	8. The Soppy Talk

**I'm a bad person. Bad girl, bad girl! (Not the brand name.) I know that I assured everybody that this chapter would be posted speedily and that it wouldn't take forever for the next update to come but… **

**I failed. **

**Epically. **

**I got caught up in other stories (one 11-chapter Vampire Knight and another multi-chapter Bleach one) and almost forgot about this one. Ugh, I'm sorry. **

**One good thing has come out of this though! A lesson: I learnt that I'm the type of person who runs out of inspiration without a moment's notice. As such, my solution is to finish writing stories before posting them in the future. That way, you guys won't be tempted to strangle me! **

**So… please enjoy? **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [Chapter 8; The Soppy Talk]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

The silence was thick and heavy and for a few heart stopping moments, time seemed to have slowed to a painful crawl.

Several sideways glances were shot fleetingly across the large, yawning gap separating the two parties. The physical divide between them seemed to thicken the tension even further.

"Well," Urahara, currently standing in the shadows behind the two captains, cleared his throat. "This is awkward."

Ichigo bristled at the flippant comment. "Quit being so cheerful in serious situations!"

"Just trying to lighten the mood," Urahara mumbled, apparently insulted at the orange-head's snappy retort.

With his hands stuck in his cheap, pink kimono sleeves, Kyouraku let out a low chuckle. "I see your jokes are still as cheesy as ever, Urahara-san."

"Not funny." Urahara turned his head, hiding his face behind his fan.

"Really?" Several heads turned as Shinji spoke up, his gangling form taking a few steps forward into no-man's land. "I thought it was pretty funny."

"Hirako-san," Kyouraku greeted happily, his hand raised in a static wave. "It's been a while."

"Really?" Shinji pretended to think. "Last I remember I saw you face-down kissing the curb after taking a hit from the Primera."

Kyouraku doubled over, his hand that was previously raised in greeting now holding the rim of his hat, pouting. "That's not very nice."

Shinji's grin broadened. "Oh? That's strange, I thought the saying went that you had to be cruel to be kind."

A slight smile spread across Kyouraku's face. "Indeed."

Ukitake took a step forward too, his face the perfect picture of serenity with warm eyes and gentle smile. "My, this is an unexpected reunion."

"Sure is," Shinji agreed loudly. "You should give us some warning next time, you know? I would have put my best suit on!"

"No you wouldn't," Hiyori retorted. "You'd have scampered off to hide under a rock somewhere."

Karin nudged her friend in the ribs. "Oh, and you wouldn't have, Hiyori?"

"Huh? What're you talking about? I never retreat."

"Of course not." Came the sarcastic reply before Hiyori rounded on her.

"You tryin' to say something here? Because if you are then you've got another thing coming!" Hiyori prodded her finger into Karin's chest. "You've already caused enough trouble for one day, idiot, so shut up and-"

"Like heck I will!" Karin slapped Hiyori's hand away. "Last time I checked I wasn't the one causing trouble!"

"Yes it w-!"

"No it wasn't! You're the one who keeps yelling at me to stop training! Are you stupid? The point of training is to carry on, dammit, so why the heck are you telling me to stop when-"

"Don't start getting technical!"

"I'll get technical as much as I damn well want and-"

Toushirou took a step away from the squabbling pair, wanting to sigh. He'd felt the tension between the two all the way to the shop before and he had been waiting for the argument to break out. Perhaps if they got everything out of the way now they'd finally cool off...

Meanwhile, a circle had cleared around the angry duo and the two formerly separate groups had joined somewhere in the middle of the shop, hovering on the fringes yet not daring to step any closer for fear of being caught up in the fray.

As both Hiyori and Karin were beginning to grow somewhat red in the face from their yelled argument, both girls getting more and more verbose with each retort, Ukitake leant over to Shinji. "That's amazing. Do they just make it up on the spot?"

The blonde scoffed. "They sure are crazy enough to." As if on cue, Karin gave one of Hiyori's ponytails a huge tug, calling it a half-assed haystack.

Ukitake cast the unperturbed Shinji a glance. "You don't seem very surprised."

"No. Those two are at it all the time. And they had this argument coming."

Hiyori wrenched her hair free and proceeded to pull on Karin's cheeks. "You! You are too damn stubborn! It's like you're part mule!"

"And you're part rhino! Have you _seen_your mask in the mirror before?"

"That's beside the damn point!"

"Then what the hell is the point?"

On the sidelines, the spectators sighed once. Ichigo reached up to rub his head while Rukia looked on critically.

"Um..." Kyouraku interrupted, tipping his hat towards the other assembled people. "Not to seem an ignoramus or such, but what exactly is it that these two lovely young ladies are bickering about?"

Shinji scowled and closed his eyes, apparently tired of the whole ordeal. "They're both too stubborn and prideful for their own good." He opened his eyes again, hooking one thumb into his pants pocket. "During training today, Karin was getting beaten up pretty badly. Hiyori was trying to convince her to stop and take a break, to give her body time to recuperate." He scratched his head. "But Karin, being the idiot she is, refused. And Hiyori, being the dumbass she is, refused to stop persuading Karin to back down. And they're still at a stale mate... I wish they'd just hurry up and get it over with. I'm hungr-" Shinji's eyes widened suddenly as he caught sight of Toushirou stepping forward. "Hitsugaya! What're you doing? Get back here-Hitsugaya!"

But Toushirou, ignoring the blonde's cries of warning, had already bolted into the circle and latched his arms around Karin's shoulders, holding the fuming girl back from launching herself at Hiyori. "What are you just standing there for," he yelled. "If they have a go at each other in here we're all done for!"

Immediately, Ichigo and Shinji's face registered the shock of understanding, both of them having had firsthand experience in the matter. Hurriedly grabbing hold of Hiyori, both Shinji and Ichigo were needed to restrain the vicious wildcat. "Get 'yer ugly hands off'a me!" she screeched.

Karin, meanwhile, was kicking up a fuss - quite literally. "Let me go Toushirou! I'm gonna-"

"Do nothing!" He interrupted. "Urahara needs his shop and if you destroy it he won't like that now quiet down and quit - argh - kicking me!" He winced as her heel connected with his shin. Damn, did her shoes have to have such hard soles?

Finally, after many more bruises and cuts, the two girls calmed down enough to be released. Carefully, Toushirou stepped away, silently exhaling a sigh of relief when Karin didn't lunge for Hiyori's throat. He knew that what the two had just gone through hadn't been a real fight but more their way of getting all of their frustrations into the open, but that didn't leave him any less nervous about the situation. After all, both girls were deadly and dangerous, Karin especially but perhaps only to him.

The three guys shared a quick glance at their successful attempt to prevent a fight before turning back to the spectators who had by now moved in a little closer.

Matsumoto, looking incredibly earnest, spoke up first. "Taicho, I never pegged you as a closet-pervert."

His face immediately heating up, Toushirou was brutally reminded of how tightly he'd had to hold onto Karin to keep her from tearing into Hiyori. "Matsumoto-!"

"Oooh!" Ukitake suddenly spoke up, his eyes shining with unbridled curiosity. "So this is the girl that you were telling me about, Hitsugaya-taicho!" He studied Karin carefully.

"Yes-I mean no! No!" Toushirou hurriedly shook his head, in that instant wishing to just shut the old man up.

Ukitake just looked thoughtful as he leaned in close towards Karin, a hand on his chin. "Are you sure? She acts just like her-"

"No she doesn't! Shut up!" He knew he sounded incredibly childish just then but he honestly didn't care. His face was in danger of putting a tomato to shame!

"Ukitake, you shouldn't kid around like that," Kyouraku interrupted and for a moment Toushirou felt unbridled gratitude towards the man. "You're embarrassing a lady in front of her secret admirer."

He exploded. "KYOURAKU!"

Urahara chose that particular moment to intervene. "Well, well, that's enough now, Kyouraku-taicho. We have matters to discuss I believe. Teasing the young taicho about things that he is still insecure about can come later."

Toushirou felt like strangling the three men currently smirking at him.

* * *

Well, that had gone better than expected. She had to admit to herself that when they'd walked in on the two captains with the Vizard in tow it would have signaled 'Game Over' for them. She giggled happily at the phrase that Orihime had taught her once before.

Matsumoto glanced up at the stars. Urahara had been kind enough to provide her with a gigai for when she left the Urahara store. Promising to take care of it and assuring her captain that she'd be back at the shop by midnight to return to the Soul Society, she'd headed out.

She truly couldn't wait to see Orihime again. The girl, according to some reports, seemed cheerful most of the time though she suffered from occasional depressive moments. Well, Matsumoto was here to root those out.

She lightly shook her head. No, of course it wouldn't be so easy. Scars that accompanied war did not simply vanish, she knew that. Hime had probably had a hard time in Hueco Mundo too and would naturally still be recovering.

Checking the street she was on, Matsumoto was pleased to find that she only had two more blocks to go until she reached the girl's house. Perhaps they could experiment with crazy food again and raid the fridge until they had procured any and all viable toppings for the blueberry ice-cream that Hime always seemed to have in her fridge.

Matsumoto smiled as she caught sight of the house and sped up a little, eager to arrive and envelop the girl in a tight bear-hug. She reached the door quickly and excitedly pressed down on the buzzer beside it repeatedly. She remembered when both she and her captain had stayed here before the Winter War they'd added their names besides Orihime's by the doorbell. The paper labels had been removed now; probably washed out from rain and wind.

Bouncing on her heels, Matsumoto watched the door open to reveal a tall, busty girl in pajamas, staring up at her dumbstruck.

"Hime!" Matsumoto squealed and flung her arms around the younger girl, swinging her around on the step in front of her apartment. "It's so good to see you again! I missed you and your lovely food over there in Soul Society; it was way too dull in the office! How are you?"

On the last question Matsumoto finally set the dizzy girl back on her feet and allowed her to catch her breath. Her eyes lit up upon catching sight of Matsumoto's happy face. "Rangiku-san!"

A gentler smile appeared on the older woman's face. "Hey. It's good to see you, Hime."

Orihime nodded once and took hold of the older woman's arm. "You've got perfect timing, Rangiku-san! We were just about to start watching a movie! Tatsuki-chan! Look, we've got a visitor!"

A surprised dark-haired girl poked her head out from the kitchen doorway, her brown eyes lighting up in recognition. "You're one of those Shinigami that came here before the whole war-thing against the white butterfly-freak, right?"

Matsumoto hid her amusement behind her hand, but nonetheless a snort of laughter burst through. Referring to the most dangerous criminal that the Soul Society had faced in a long time as a 'butterfly-freak' seemed almost flippant.

The dark-haired girl stepped into the passage, a kind smile on her face and her hand outstretched. "Thanks. For showing up back then."

Matsumoto took a moment to register the girl's words. Then she remembered the human teens that had been falling under Aizen's massive reiatsu upon her arrival in the real Karakura town in the Soul Society. Her eyes widened in recognition. "Were you..."

Tatsuki nodded. "Yeah, one of the people who woke up."

A slight smile stretching onto her own lips, Matsumoto took the hand that Tatsuki was still offering to her. "Of course."

A firm shake later and the serious atmosphere had dissipated. Orihime darted into the kitchen and returned with a large cooking bowl filled to the brim with lightly coloured fluffy things. "Look Tatsuki! The popcorn turned out perfectly! What toppings should we put on there?"

"Uh..."

"I know!" Matsumoto piped up, darting towards the cupboards. She really had no idea what this 'popcorn' stuff was but if it required toppings then she could think of a couple.

Tatsuki and Matsumoto soon managed to find some common ground and the three girls quickly settled down to cinnamon and chocolate-peanut butter flavoured popcorn, watching movies and laughing. Even Tatsuki had tentatively decided to try some of the popcorn that the two others were gushing over.

Amidst the laughter and gossip, Matsumoto studiously ignored the fact that Orihime's pajamas were pure white with black trimmings along the edges.

* * *

"Why am I doing this again?"

"Because we didn't get anything to eat at the Vizard's and you refused to eat at Urahara's because you were paranoid about the food and convinced that he'd make you pay for it," Karin replied nonchalantly, her hands linked behind her head.

Toushirou cast her a secretive glance to scan over her injuries again. Her instant regeneration had taken care of most of her wounds but had left the bruises and minor scrapes. That combined with the dried blood that had yet to be scrubbed off, she was a sorry sight to behold. But, Toushirou thought, that she looked rather ethereal in the moonlight, even with all her injuries. He quickly snuffed that train of thought out and focused his attention back ahead on where he was walking. It wouldn't do to have thoughts like that.

"Unless," Karin continued, unaware of his gaze on her previously, "you'd rather eat at Orihime's."

"No." He replied a little too quickly. "That's fine." He was feeling nauseous just at the thought of facing that food again.

Despite focusing his eyes ahead he still caught sight of her head turning towards him to give him a slight, knowing smile. His stomach flipped.

Following behind them, a good few meters away, were Ichigo and Rukia. Rukia had her lips pressed excitedly together and her curious lavender eyes locked on the two younger people ahead of her.

Ichigo was seething quietly. He had resolved not to hound the young taicho about spending time with his sister until he could get the little guy alone and then grill him for information. But, watching them interact now, it was becoming increasingly hard. In fact, his hands were fisting so tightly in his pockets that the muscles in his fingers were cramping up.

"Relax, Ichigo," came Rukia's soft voice from beside him.

He snapped his head over to her. "Relax? How in the high flying blazes am I supposed to relax with that twerp making a move on my little sister?" he hissed, more than a little tense.

"He's not," Rukia pointed out and Ichigo grudgingly had to agree. Toushirou wasn't making a move on his sister_... not at the moment at least_. But they were walking a little too closely together for his liking.

Ichigo grumbled and slouched further, wishing that they'd all just speed up so that they could reach home. He'd be sure to sit between Karin and Toushirou at the dinner table.

The orange-head watched, gritting his teeth, as Toushirou gave a flippant retort to one of Karin's questions. _'Calm down'_, he reminded himself. '_Karin acts like this around all of her guy friends_.'

His restraint was sorely tested when Karin reached over and gave the white-haired taicho's nose a flick, making a look of annoyance cross the boy's face. '_Easy, Ichigo_,' he told himself. _'It was just a nose-flick. Nothing to get worried over_.'

But when Toushirou's hand shot up to grab hold of Karin's wrist as she was moving her hand towards his hair, Ichigo saw red.

Rukia, having noticed her companion's murderous aura, caught hold of the back of Ichigo's jacket and twisted the carrot-top's right arm around painfully behind his back, jumping onto it and latching her free arm around his neck. "Zip it, Ichigo," she muttered into his ear, stopping his struggles for a moment.

Ichigo repressed a shiver from running down his spine upon having Rukia's warm breath ghost over his cold cheek. He gathered his wits. "Let go, Rukia, I'm gonna kill the twerp," he whispered back. He'd understood by her tone that if he drew attention to them she'd make his incapacitated arm, still currently twisted behind his back, hurt a lot more than it already was.

"Shut up, strawberry." Again she spoke into his ear and Ichigo gritted his teeth. "It's just getting good!"

"This isn't one of your stupid books!" he nearly shouted but Rukia adjusted his arm, reminding him of his position.

"Oi," a voice interrupted them. Ichigo and Rukia glanced ahead to where Karin and Toushirou were standing, much too close together for Ichigo's liking, and staring back at them questioningly. Karin put her hand on her hip, a frown on her face. "What are you guys doing?"

Only then did Ichigo take stock of how Rukia, sitting on his back with her arm around his neck, was actually very close. From Karin's point of view, it must have seemed that he was giving the black-haired midget a piggy-back ride. The arm that Rukia was still restraining behind his back was given a quick tug, making him wince slightly, before it was released and Rukia plastered a big grin onto her face. "My legs are tired and Ichigo's giving me a lift!" she hollered. Ichigo wanted to punch her.

Rukia had a sudden burst of inspiration. "Why don't you give Karin a hand, Hitsugaya-taicho?"

Rukia found it amusing the way both of the young teen's faces lit up with a bright red blush.

"N-no way!" Karin yelled back, crossing her arms and turning away from Toushirou. "No way am I getting on his back."

Toushirou, surprised at how Karin's comment stung, turned away too. "Don't worry, there's no way I'd let you."

"I'd be too heavy for you anyway. With scrawny arms like yours you wouldn't even be able to lift me!"

"Would too," he replied sounding somewhat insulted. "And my arms are not scrawny."

Karin gave him a scathing glance over her shoulder. "Have you looked at them lately?"

He scowled at her and then turned around, continuing to walk down the street.

Rukia silently cursed under her breath. Dammit, she'd just ruined it. They'd been getting on so well and now, because of her comment, there was a tense air between them. She frowned.

Toushirou kept his gaze locked ahead, refusing to even take a glance at the girl beside him. Kuchiki had put him on the spot earlier, suggesting that he give Karin a lift. The startling force at which a mental image of Karin pressed against his back presented itself to him had thrown him completely. But then Karin's biting insistence that she'd _never_get on his back had shattered that vision immediately.

And then he'd said something stupid. Now he wanted to rewind to that earlier point and redo what he'd said.

What puzzled him was the suddenness of the mental image of Karin on his back. He'd even imagined that she'd be warm and soft... nice. He shook those thoughts off. Since when was he having such strange thoughts about Karin anyway? She was a friend. A friend. Why did that meaningful word sound so sadly hollow to him just then?

"We're here," Karin's voice jerked him out of his musings. They were indeed just outside the Kurosaki Clinic and Toushirou felt an odd feeling of foreboding in his stomach. Karin went ahead and entered the garden through the little waist-high gate, holding it until Toushirou took it to let himself through. Upon glancing back over his shoulder, he caught sight of Rukia and Ichigo having a near-silent argument. It appeared that the strawberry was trying to pry Kuchiki off his back but she wasn't letting go of her stranglehold around his throat.

Toushirou shook his head and let the gate fall closed, thinking that they'd just open it whenever they reached it. Karin was waiting for him just a little ahead and he was surprised, though he didn't show it. She offered him a little smile. "My dad's a lunatic," she told him seriously. He gave her a questioning stare and she just shrugged, going ahead towards the front door. "I figured that you deserved a fair warning."

He didn't reply, settling instead for watching Karin as she knocked on the door and then stuck her hand back into her pocket, waiting for the door to open.

Not two seconds later thunderous footsteps were heard hurtling down the passage towards the door and Toushirou braced himself, getting ready for the 'lunatic'. He was not disappointed. The door was flung open wide to bang against the inside wall and revealed a tall, towering man with black hair and a neatly trimmed beard, his large keen eyes trained directly on Toushirou, who could only stare.

"Aha!" the man proclaimed, "So this is the infamous 'Toushirou' that my daughter has been bragging to me about!" Toushirou felt his face heat up.

"Move it, otou-san," Karin muttered, pushing past her father and grabbing Toushirou's wrist to pull him through the door behind her. "We're hungry."

"Oh, Masaki, my daughter is always so cold towards- uh, where are Ichigo and my third daughter?"

On cue, the two appeared around the corner, Ichigo still trying to pry the smaller girl from his back where she was latched onto, her arms near-strangling him as she refused to let go of his neck.

Karin took the opportunity to get further inside whilst her father gushed about Ichigo and Rukia now, exclaiming how simply 'adorable' they looked together. Ichigo heartily disagreed but Rukia, adopting the role of Ms. Sweetness, smiled and nodded vigorously.

Karin sighed as she rubbed her hand through her own hair, frowning. "And then he wonders why we don't have guests." Toushirou let a slight smile slip onto his face at her exasperated comment. She seemed to have forgotten about their earlier tension and he was glad. He hadn't liked the feeling of distance between them.

A girl stepped out from behind the stove, a spatula held in her hand. "Karin-chan, you're home!"

"Yeah, Yuzu."

"Oh, you brought Toushirou-kun along?" Toushirou wondered how she knew what his name was but his question was quickly answered when Karin nodded.

"Yeah. We've gotta soundproof our door, Yuzu. Otou-san's been listening in on us again, the idiot."

Yuzu nodded slowly, tapping her chin. "I was wondering how he knew who Toushirou-kun was..."

Toushirou felt a spark in the pit of his stomach upon realizing that Karin had spoken of him to her twin. Idly he wondered what she'd said.

"Well, Toushirou-kun, please sit down. Dinner's almost ready, it's a good thing I made extra." The smiling twin disappeared into the kitchen and Karin headed over towards the table, hanging her coat up.

Toushirou took one last look around at the crazy household and sighed. He only hoped that he got through this night in one piece...

* * *

It was precisely one hour, two plates and three bruises later that dinner was finished and, surprisingly, Toushirou was still intact. Physically at least; the young taicho wasn't quite so certain about his mental state though. That family was insanity itself...

Surprisingly, Ichigo had been rather civil throughout the entire meal and had only shot the young captain two death glares when Toushirou had made the mistake of turning his head towards Karin. While the atmosphere had been slightly iffy it was not as bad as Toushirou would have thought. He silently shook his head at Ichigo's protective streak. The orange-head had nothing to worry about... right?

Ichigo stood up at that moment, thanked Yuzu for the meal and rolled his shoulders. "I'm gonna go patrol for a while," he said, pulling his badge out of his pocket and forcing his soul from his body.

Rukia stood up too, swallowing her Chappy pill quickly. "I shall come with you!" she announced happily, pumping her fist into the air. Ichigo's eyes widened then and he rounded on her, spluttering.

"No! I mean, you must stay!"

Rukia frowned at the taller boy, glaring at him. Ichigo hurriedly corrected himself. "Ah well, there's no real need right now... no hollows or anything..." Her glare didn't let up and Ichigo tried to match her cold stare.

Toushirou watched the exchange whilst standing up too. He nodded politely to Yuzu and gave her a quiet thanks which she accepted with a cheerful smile. Karin stood too and sighed, gathering her bowls and holding her hand out for his. Toushirou handed her his dish, keeping his eyes on the two older squabbling teens. Ichigo, by this point, had given up staring in favour of directing his eyes meaningfully on Toushirou and then back to Rukia. He did this a few times, silently trying to bid the shorter Shinigami to stay behind. Toushirou gnashed his teeth. That overprotective...

Rukia, however, was not buying into it. Instead she plastered a big smile onto her face and grabbed Ichigo by the sleeve, dragging him behind her. "Come on Ichigo! Let's go patrol! Outside! And leave your family alone!" She sent a wink over her shoulder and shoved Ichigo out the window, hopping out more gracefully herself.

Isshin cottoned on very quickly. The exuberant man popped from his seat and clasped his hands. "I am going on a long midnight stroll!"

Yuzu, half way to the kitchen and balancing plates on her hands, turned her head towards the clock on the wall. "But, it's only eight 'o clock."

"Exactly!" Isshin cried. "A _long_stroll!" He dashed from the house, slamming the door behind him.

Yuzu sighed then and glanced back at the clock. "It's pretty late... and I've still got homework..."

Karin marched past her sister and took the dishes from her arms. "Go do homework, Yuzu. Toushirou and I will do dishes."

Yuzu's eyes lit up and she smiled, nodding, and then skipped up the stairs. "Thanks Karin!"

Karin allowed herself a small smile and then turned to glance back at Toushirou who, by this point, had realised that it was only him and Karin left in the room. Suddenly he felt very uncomfortable.

"Come on Toush, start helping. Or don't you know how to do dishes?"

He grimaced at that jab at his pride and snatched some plates from the table, striding ahead of Karin into the kitchen and dumping the dishes in the sink, wrenching the tap open and reaching for the plug. Staying at Inoue's before the war had taught him a couple of things about human plumbing. Besides, he lived alone in his captain's quarters in the Soul Society; obviously he knew how to wash a few plates!

Behind him he heard Karin walking into the kitchen and he could almost feel her satisfied smirk she was wearing on her lips as she put the dishes down beside his, reaching for a cloth and handing it to him, taking the soap bottle and dish rag to wash the crockery with. Toushirou shrugged and just took the drying towel, waiting for Karin to finish running the water.

She looked perfectly at ease doing them, despite not doing very many chores. She'd told him herself that she didn't enjoy cleaning or cooking very much but that sometimes she would help Yuzu out when her sister had lots to do. He frowned a little then, looking over at her as she tested the water. "Don't you have homework too?"

"Nope," she shook her head. "I'm faster than Yuzu at Math so I finished it all in class while she's still got a lot to do."

Toushirou listened, interested. "You're good at Math?"

Karin sent him a scowl. "Are you trying to imply something here? Why shouldn't I be good at Math?"

"Calm, Karin. I was just asking."

She sighed and reached for the glasses, rinsing those first. "Yeah, I'm good at Math. I like logic and tactical games since Otou-san used to play them with me a lot after Kaa-san died. Math isn't that far off from logic."

Toushirou nodded, seeing the reasoning behind it. "So... you know how to play Go?"

Karin nodded. "And some of the variants like Irensei and stuff. Chess is also pretty cool."

Toushirou was surprised that an active girl like her enjoyed strategy games but kept his face straight. If he said or did something now she'd probably take offense to it again. He took the glasses that she'd finished with and began drying them, continuing on to the cutlery. Luckily there weren't very many dishes.

"And your friends?" he asked. "Do they like strategy games?"

Karin shook her head. "I tried to teach them once but they were horrible at it. So I never really get to play with anyone since otou-san and Ichi-nii are so busy all the time and Yuzu doesn't like them much."

"Are you only friends with those soccer guys?"

Karin shot him an annoyed look. "What's with all the questions?" Toushirou gritted his teeth but didn't reply. Karin shrugged and continued with the plates, handing another to him. "And yes, I am only friends with those soccer guys. Most other people find me weird."

A frown crossed his face and Karin picked it up quickly. Handing him another plate, she continued. "Can't blame them; I mean, I get temper issues and yell at people to back off and run away and they think I want them to just get out of my sight 'cause I don't like them. Meanwhile there's a huge Hollow rearing over their heads that they don't know about." She allowed herself a grin. "The guys have gotten used to it I 'spose and they've been around me for long enough to have picked up the barest amount of spiritual awareness so they can usually sense that something's up." Toushirou listened intently. So there were even _more_humans with the beginnings of reiatsu in Karakura?

Karin shrugged, picking another plate up. "They're weaker than Yuzu was a few months ago though; can't see the things at all."

When she turned to look at him she caught sight of the critical look on his face and scowled in response. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing," Toushirou said nonchalantly, thinking about how dismissive she'd sounded about her friend's potential awareness of surrounding Hollows when she was part Hollow herself. Ironic in a sense really. He took the next plate from Karin and failed to notice the now truly irritated expression on her face.

"Oi, answer me!" Karin flicked her fingers through the water. Soapy water droplets smacked him in the face and, surprised, the plate slipped from his fingers and back into the filled sink, splashing water onto Karin.

Dropping the plate had truly been an accident. However, by the stunned and then devious glint passing her eyes, Toushirou had a feeling that she was taking it personally. He found out that he was right when she scooped more water up and splashed him again, more severely this time. He lifted his hands but obviously couldn't quite block all of it. When he lowered his hands he caught sight of the smirk dancing on her lips.

It was a childish impulse, but he acted on it nonetheless. The soapy water was in his hand and flying at her before she had much more chance to blink and she yelped as it slapped into her face. A sense of victory caught hold of Toushirou, however petty the victory was, but it was short-lived. Cursing, Karin grabbed the cloth she'd been washing with and slapped it against him, soaking his shirt and neck with the dirty water.

From there he lost track of exactly how often he got splashed with dishwater and how often he retaliated in that sense of immature payback. He really shouldn't be indulging in such pointless and counterproductive activities, but her laughter was infectious. Getting another dose of water down his neck, he decided to end their game and promptly grabbed hold of her wrist, stopping it from swinging down at him again. Her left hand came up to where he was holding her right one above her head and he quickly had that pinned too.

For a moment he reveled in his victory of having beaten her; and then he stopped breathing. Sometime along the line during their messy water fight the space between them had all but vanished, leaving them standing virtually chest-to-chest and nose-to-nose. They were both breathing hard from adrenaline and his senses were highly alert. When she breathed in he could feel the front of her chest just brush against his and a drop of water was making its way along her nose and over her lips. Her eyes were frozen, also coming to the realization of how close they were and her hitch of breath kindled the absurd notion of wanting to lean in and brush his lips against hers.

She unfroze first and, suddenly, Toushirou felt another load of water drench his face. "Gah!"

"Don't let your guard down, Toushirou!" Karin taunted, waving the cloth that she'd been holding in her hand even as he'd pinned her hands. She'd merely given the water-logged cloth a good squeeze.

By the time he turned his murderous gaze on her she was already running from the room, the cloth tossed back into the sink. "Karin! Get back here!"

But she didn't return and he heard her footsteps thundering up the stairs, a laugh echoing down the passage.

Honestly, why did that girl have to be so utterly infuriating? Now he had to clean this up! Wringing out the sopping cloth over the sink with a savage twist, he ground his teeth.

And what was with that moment there? It was mixed in amongst the stupidity of flinging water at her, but in that instant when he'd grabbed her hands his heart had clenched uncomfortably. And…

He reached a hand up, brushing the barest of fingers over his mouth. That impulse had been strong. So strong…

Frowning, he reached for another cloth to mop up the water. Thinking back on it, that strange, compelling sensation had been happening more often lately.

What was it? What was it that pulled him towards Karin and craved for her physical contact?

He didn't notice the second presence in the room until a second later. Turning his head a little, he caught sight of Kurosaki Ichigo standing behind him, his arms crossed loosely over his chest and Shinigami robes. "Why did Karin just run past me, dripping wet?"

"Because she splashed me first," he growled under his breath.

Ichigo raised a skeptic eyebrow. "And just _why _did my little sister feel the need to douse you in water?"

Toushirou didn't like the insinuations that the orange-head was making. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Kurosaki."

Ichigo shrugged and gave a dry chuckle. "Yeah, I get it." Toushirou frowned. Why was Kurosaki being so casual all of a sudden? Hadn't the substitute been raving a few mere minutes before about Toushirou's untrustworthiness around Karin? Toushirou glanced about. He couldn't sense Kuchiki's presence, so was she still out on patrol? Why was Kurosaki back though?

Ichigo turned on his heel then and sighed. "Come on, I've got an old shirt upstairs that should fit you. Thank goodness you've grown a little bit."

Grumbling at Ichigo's subtle insult, Toushirou followed the taller boy up the stairs. As they passed by a door in the passage, Toushirou's eyes darted to the wide crack between the door and its frame, where he spotted a flash of black. Focusing on it, he could make out Karin, sitting at a desk clad in a pair of light blue pajamas. She turned her head, sensing his stare, and sent him a small, nearly invisible smile.

He swallowed, already prepared for that clenching in his chest.

"Oi, Toushirou, in here," Ichigo called, standing with a hand on a door further down the passage. Following the orange-head into the room, Toushirou easily recognized it to be Ichigo's room from the few rare times that he'd actually entered it through the window.

Ichigo was rummaging through the bottom part of his closet. From where he was standing, Toushirou could see a mattress neatly folded up on the top shelf and, lying on it, a pair of yellow pajamas and Chappy slippers. So the rumour about Kuchiki Rukia sleeping in the substitute's closet was true. Toushirou made a mental note to never let Byakuya know.

"Here!" Ichigo pulled out a green shirt then, holding it up and then tossing it to Toushirou before finding a pair of black pants. "These should fit pretty well. You can change in here while I go find my body."

As the door closed behind Ichigo, Toushirou sighed, scrutinizing the clothes that, despite not fitting Ichigo anymore, were obviously still too big for him. Was he really that puny? Muttering under his breath, he slipped the shirt on, rolling the sleeves up and discarding his wet one on the floor by his feet. He'd pick it up in a moment when he had somewhere to put it. Checking the length of the pants and finding, much to his annoyance, that they were far too long for him even rolled up, he decided to simply stay in his damp pair. They were relatively dry and only had a few patches that were even wet.

The door opened again and Ichigo stepped back in, now in his human body once more. "Oh good, you're done." Toushirou nodded and leant against the desk as Ichigo went to sit on his bed, folding his hands and fixing Toushirou with a serious stare. "Toushirou, why are you here?"

The urge to correct the substitute on his title was itching on his tongue but he reined it in. Kurosaki was being unusually serious right now and Toushirou had a feeling that this conversation would not play out well for him. So he steeled himself. "That's none of your-"

"Don't give me that crap." Ichigo's eyes narrowed and his hands fisted. "I know you, Toushirou, and you aren't the type to make rash decisions. Not often at least. So why are you risking your captaincy over my sister?"

Toushirou stiffened. He'd been expecting a question like that; he'd only wished that it hadn't been asked so soon. He barely even had an answer for himself yet and was operating mostly on gut-feeling. But perhaps this was a good thing. Putting his muddled thoughts into clear words would perhaps help. It was simply the problem of finding the correct ones. He swallowed, preparing himself. "It isn't only about her."

"But mostly," Ichigo countered, keeping a keep stare fixed on the young captain.

Toushirou nodded. "Yes."

Ichigo remained silent for a while. Had he not expected Toushirou's blunt response? It was true though; he was risking his captaincy - the thing that he had worked so hard for - over a human girl. This wasn't based on planned and thought out logic. This was something that Toushirou hardly ever did; acting on instinct.

It was _right _being with Karin and when he was around the Vizard any pretence that he had to keep up to retain his squad's respect melted away. Around them, those outlaws, he felt both at ease and unnerved at the familiarity that was present. And Karin... Karin was...

Ichigo spoke, jerking Toushirou from his thought. "Are you just going to toss this away when you get bored?"

The notion of that statement made bitter revulsion boil in the pit of Toushirou's stomach. "I _am _coming back, Kurosaki," he spat, disgusted that the substitute would even think that to be true.

Ichigo's expression never changed as he continued to stare holes through Toushirou's skull. With a sharp edge to his voice, Ichigo said, "What makes you think I'd let you?"

Perhaps it was the defiance that rose up in him at Kurosaki's challenging words speaking, but Toushirou found himself clenching his teeth and hissing, "Whether or not I have your permission, I am _going _to see her."

The thought of being 'forbidden' to see Karin did not manage to register in his mind. He wanted to see her and he would.

"You'll put her in danger," Ichigo warned.

He'd thought of that. He'd thought of everything in order to reason with himself that returning was a bad idea yet the sense of belonging made all consequences seem unimportant. He was no longer leaning against the desk, he noticed, but rather standing, rigid, with his hands fisted tightly and bent menacingly toward Kurosaki, an inch away from pouncing on him. "I know that!" he yelled, red gathering on his face. "I know I'm an idiot! I know that this is stupid and that Karin will be in danger! I know that!" He paused, "I'll make sure she never is!"

The ringing silence in the room was only broken by the deep, calming breaths that Toushirou was taking. He had to get a grip, he reminded himself. Losing focus here was not going to help. He never wavered from Ichigo's unchanging stare and then, finally, the substitute's mouth tugged upwards on the one side. "Good."

Toushirou blinked, surprised. Had Kurosaki just sounded... satisfied?

Stretching, Ichigo cracked his fingers and headed for the door, saying, "At least I now know you're serious. Guess I'll go clean up that mess in the kitchen now." Turning at the door to shoot Toushirou a last look, Ichigo frowned again, speaking in a grave tone. "Toushirou, I'm counting on you."

As the door shut, the severity of what he had just promised hit Toushirou like a ton of bricks.

* * *

"Ah, excellent tea, Urahara-san," Ukitake commented pleasantly, holding his cup contentedly.

"Cut the small-talk," Shinji said, not sparing his own untouched tea a glance and instead staring at the other occupants in the room, seated around the table of the Urahara store. "What do you plan on doing now, ey?"

Both Kyouraku and Ukitake faltered before falling silent. As Hiyori sent him a scowl, he shrugged. "Just addressing the giant elephant in the room," Shinji muttered. "You know you were all thinking it."

Kyouraku sighed, setting his sake down on the table. "Indeed. According to our duty as captains, we should, by all rights, report your whereabouts."

"But you won't," Hiyori countered.

Ukitake smiled. "No, we won't. After all, you are old friends."

Shinji shrugged. "Tell that to the Soutaicho. Us helping you guys fight Aizen scored us some points, but the old fart is probably still hung up on the fact that we 'betrayed' the Soul Society. Stupid old geezer."

"Well," Kyouraku began, "Old Man Yama really has been steaming over you guys lately. Giving you away would really not be a good idea."

"No, it wouldn't be," Hiyori agreed, nodding.

Ukitake spoke up then. "But, what about Hitsugaya-taicho?"

"Secret." Shinji's tone and voice made it clear that no argument would be allowed. "He's with us; end of story."

Hiyori nodded when the two captains looked stunned. "He's known about us since before the final showdown. Ratting 'im out now would just be rotten." Huffing, she crossed her arms. "Besides, the Shorty's kinda fun to have around."

In the silence, Urahara allowed himself a chuckle. "And of course, Karin-chan would not take that betrayal well, ey Hiyori-chan?" The blonde girl shot him a dirty look.

"Karin-chan?" Kyouraku asked, scratching his head.

"The little girl arguing with Hiyori earlier," Shinji clarified. "She's new."

Ukitake seemed surprised. "New? Well, it makes sense I suppose. She wasn't there during the battle against Aizen, was she?"

"Because we didn't let her," Shinji drawled, looking bored. When the two captains gave him a questioning stare, he sighed. "Karin's strong, but too young. Besides, she's still human-"

"Mostly human," Hiyori interrupted.

"Yeah yeah. Mostly human," Shinji waved her correction off. "That and Ichigo would beat the snot out of us if his little sister got killed by Aizen."

Ukitake was the first to latch onto the phrase. "Little sister? So the girl there, with Hitsugaya-taicho was..." His eyes widened as realization dawned on him and the pieces connected. That girl was the one that Hitsugaya-taicho was talking about...

"Ohoho!" Urahara laughed from behind his fan in glee. "The cat's out the bag, ey Yoruichi-san?"

The cat-woman allowed herself a secretive smirk.

* * *

"No, you're not serious!" Matsumoto leant forward, listening raptly.

"But I am!" Orihime insisted, raising a finger and pouting a little with her bottom lip. "Strawberries really _do_taste better if you squash them a little first!"

Tatsuki was looking skeptic. "Who the hell told you that?"

Pink dusted Orihime's face as suddenly and hurriedly shut her mouth and fiddled with her white pajamas. "N-nobody! Nobody at all!" Orihime laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head as she tried to wave off the other's scrutiny.

"Orihime…" Tatsuki began but stopped when a cheery ringtone started up in the room.

Matsumoto blinked in surprise and fished around in her cleavage, trying to find the cell phone. Finally pulling it out, she flipped it open. "Oh, it's Rukia-chan," she said as she recognised the caller-ID. "Hello?"

_'Thank goodness you picked up_!' Rukia yelled into the phone, making Matsumoto hold it away from her ear with a grimace. The two other girls crawled forward and pressed their ears close to the phone as well, trying to hear. From Rukia's side of the line, a large crash sounded. _'Guys! I'm coming over! This is_-' A yell stopped Rukia for a moment. '_-this is too crazy even for me! Save me some food!_'

"Coming over?" Tatsuki questioned.

Orihime blinked and tilted her head towards the phone. "But don't you sleep in Kurosaki-kun's closet?"

'_Not tonight I'm not_!' Rukia roared as another crash of china sounded in the background.

"What on earth is happening over there?" Tatsuki marveled, half horrified.

Rukia sighed from her end of the line. _'Ichigo's dad came back from his midnight stroll early and found-_' another crash '-_and found Karin and Hitsugaya-taicho sitting on the couch and watching some show. I think it was Wipeout and the explanation went skew_-' Rukia paused on her end. _'Ouch. That's gotta hurt_.'

"What hurt?" Matsumoto hollered, bouncing with eager questions.

In the background, the three could vaguely make out voices.

_'Oh Masaki! My son is being so rude to his new brother!'_

_'Shut it old man!'_

_'Oh, woe is me-agh!_' A terrible smashing sounded then, followed closely by a horrified shriek.

_'Daddy! Daddy you set the custard on fire!'_

_'Oh Masaki! My docile little daughter is beating me with a spoon!'__  
_  
Rukia began speaking again and the chaos faded into incoherent ravings again. _'I'll be there in five!'__  
_  
The line went dead.

* * *

A few hours later, at midnight, found a crowd of odd assortment outside the Urahara store. The night was dark and Shinji yawned widely and stretched, rubbing a tired eye. "Tch, shouldn't have stayed up so late talkin' to stupid geezers..."

Urahara, on the other hand, looked daisy-fresh and unfazed by the hour. "That's hurtful, Hirako-san. Besides, Kyouraku-taicho and Ukitake-taicho left long ago; at eight I believe. You could have returned to the others hours ago already."

"Don't make me laugh," Shinji grumbled. "You're the one who insisted we should catch up on old times."

"Yes," Urahara nodded. "But you're the one who agreed."

Shinji huffed. "Stupid idiot."

A few meters away, Toushirou sighed, looking around tiredly. He'd only spent a few hours at the Kurosaki household and already he was exhausted; no wonder Karin had such good endurance. Within the space of a few hours, he'd gotten into a water fight with Karin, endured a lecture from Ichigo, gotten assaulted by the man of the house whilst watching TV and made a rash and committing promise to protect Karin; a promise that he intended to keep.

Beside him, the girl yawned. He kept forgetting how young she actually was. Her power and sharp wit sometimes left him with the impression that she wasn't as young as she looked.

Matsumoto rocked up then, looking boisterous and cheery as usual. "Taicho!"

"You're late, Matsumoto," he grumbled.

His Fukutaichō merely giggled happily. "Aw, don't say that. I just had to stay to wish Tatsuki-chan good luck for her karate tournament tomorrow! Apparently a whole crowd is going to cheer her on!"

Karin nodded. "Yeah. Yuzu and I are and Renji wants to tag along too." She leant over towards Toushirou then and muttered in an undertone, "Can't blame the guy. Staying at Urahara's is a nightmare. That and Tatsuki keeps blowing him off."

Toushirou stilled at this new piece of information. Abarai Renji, the Fukutaichō of the 6th Division, was courting a human girl? The situation was dangerously similar to his own though Toushirou reminded himself that he was by no means courting anybody. No. He just liked spending time with Karin and the Vizard sort of came along with her... His shoulders sagged and he fought the urge to sigh. He might as well stop lying to himself.

Karin was... somebody important to him. But was he courting her in the same manner as Abarai was this Tatsuki girl?

He felt Karin's arm brush against his own and he was suddenly reminded of how close they were standing together. His chest constricted and his breathing became heavier. Cursing mentally, he told himself to stop freaking out just because she touched him.

His eyes flickered over to her and regarded her in the dim, ethereal light of the moon. Had she always glowed like this? He swallowed and fisted his hands to stop them from shaking. _Dammit, what was wrong with him?_

Her charcoal eyes met his and his mouth went dry. As the smile formed on her lips, he pressed his more tightly together. An urge to reach out to her shook his frame. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to feel her. Kiss… _No_! Gritting his teeth, he locked his muscles in place, enduring the shivers that rocked his body. _Damn it!_

Her arm brushed against his again and a shock raced through his system. _Why why why?__  
_  
"Taicho, are we going now?" Matsumoto chirped then and Karin's head snapped towards the woman. Toushirou though didn't know whether to thank or curse his fukutaicho for interrupting.

_...interrupting? Interrupting what, exactly?_

He shook it off and took a breath through his pressurized lungs, gathering himself. What the heck was wrong with him? "Yes."

Turning away from Karin, he pulled his Zanpaktou from its sheath on his back and pierced the air, summoning a gate. As the white light spilled forth onto the ground before the Urahara store, Matsumoto skipped through it, giving a cheery wave over her shoulder. Toushirou followed after, more composed.

He could feel _her_eyes on the back of his neck and, falling to temptation, turned his head just the slightest. She was staring at him in a way that made him nervous. He never got nervous! But with just a look, Karin was managing it! With just a look... and a lopsided smile. She raised her hand a little, tilting it to the side. She didn't say a word, though he understood her farewell perfectly. In response, he inclined his head.

The gates closed and the light faded, the crickets resumed their chirping. Karin took a deep breath, trying to dispel the tension in her muscles. Why had she felt the need to brush against Toushirou's skin so much?

"Oi," Hiyori broke her from her thoughts and Karin turned towards her. The two locked eyes for a moment, scowling at each other, remembering their standoff in the store only a few hours ago. Hiyori turned her head away first, shrugging. "Let's go. We've got more training tomorrow."

As Hiyori began trudging along the road, Karin tucked her hands into her pockets. With an easy stride, she was beside the blonde girl and fell into step alongside her. "I have dibs on the tall rock."

Shinji sighed, running a weary hand over his face and followed after them, giving Urahara and Yoruichi a parting wave. Without a heartwarming reconciliation, Karin and Hiyori had resolved whatever issues they had. At each other's throats the one moment and peaceful the next.

Those two girls would be the death of him.

* * *

**OMAKE:**

"**Where do you suppose our youngest captain met the younger sister of Kurosaki Ichigo?" Kyouraku mused, adjusting his pink kimono as they continued to walk steadily through the Severed World, heading back towards the Soul Society.**

**Ukitake furrowed his brows, holding a hand to his chin. "Presumably a very unexpected setting."**

"**Presumably," the brown-haired man smirked, a devious light entering his eyes. "But imagine, Ukitake, their fateful meeting playing out like a romantic, sunset-filled novel. Can you envision the adorable blushes?" **

**Ukitake allowed his mind to consider the prospect and his own face flood with a sort of infantile and bubbly happiness. "Why yes! That would make an excellent romantic comedy story. Oh, the awkward situations that they'd get into…" **

"**Speaking of which, the Film Festival is coming up soon, is it not, Ukitake?" **

"**Of course! That is a wonderful idea, Kyouraku."**

"**I can just see it now," Kyouraku adopted a dreamy expression. "All the lovely young ladies swarming to watch our production for the sighs and teary, moving and heart-wrenching love story that it shall be! The forbidden love between a Shinigami captain and an ordinary human girl; what a show!" **

**Ukitake sent his friend a knowing look. "You're just interested in the women who will be coming to watch the movie, aren't you?"**

* * *

**A/N: Um… please review? **

**A huge thank you to everyone who's supported me throughout this story despite my hideously late updates and ridiculously long waiting periods. The story is almost finished (I'm estimating another one or two chapters) and in a way I am looking forward to it, since it frees up my schedule for writing other, more interesting stories! I appreciate every single alert, favourite and review. **

**By the way, you guys have ****Forbidden - Hanyou**** to thank for this chapter! She beta'd it for me within 24 hours; no joke! You rock K!**


	9. Anticipation

**This has got to be one of the hardest chapters I have ever written. Do you have any idea how often I was one step away from running out of inspiration and enthusiasm?**

**Luckily, I had a very persistent fan nipping at my heels the entire time, urging me on and to finish the chapter stat! **

**So, as a thank-you, this chapter is dedicated to Stelza-chan! (Stelza-chan also came up with the Vizard 'Free Time' scene)**

**School is getting serious and the final exams are a mere two weeks away. As a result, I don't know how often I'll find time to write. These exams are super important guys. Whenever I apply for a job for the rest of my life, these results are going to be showing up and deciding whether or not I can afford to buy bread and milk. **

**So here's a chapter before the madness begins. Please bear with me. The last exam that both SugarFox and I have to sit takes place on the 28****th**** of November. After that we're done with High School and are heading off on holiday where we'll have all the time in the world to write! **

**Wish us luck, guys! **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos (Chapter 9)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

Mayuri was furious.

Upon returning to the Soul Society, Toushirou and Matsumoto had headed directly back to the office, leaving the reiatsu decoys that they'd used the last time with Urahara, where the man deactivated them once the two Shinigami had entered the gate. However, this left Mayuri, the dangerous creator of those devices, frothing at the mouth. Toushirou still recalled the captain's meeting where the scientist had thrown a fit about his missing creations and about what he'd do if he ever found the bastard that stole them.

_"I'll break him!" Mayuri had shrieked, stomping his foot. "I'll break him like an expensive piece of china!_"

Toushirou shook his head, reaching for the next sheet of paperwork. Interesting how Mayuri had immediately assumed the thief to be a male, when in actual fact it had been Matsumoto who had stolen them.

That had been a good week ago and the scientist was still on a warpath, hellbent to find the criminal. It had become more of a case about bruised pride that someone had managed to sneak under Mayuri's nose, than about the actual missing reiatsu amplifiers. Security around Mayuri's lab had been tightened and routine patrols circled the 12th Division. Toushirou found it all rather excessive.

However, due to the scientist's paranoia, the other captains had inevitably been affected in much the same manner. They were all more uptight with the idea that there was a thief among them who was capable of stealing from a captain and had merely taken two simple devices to amplify reiatsu via machine. What was the purpose? And why two?

As such, visits into the World of the Living without express permission from the soutaicho and a very good, legitimate reason were expressly forbidden. Soi Fon had become more uptight, almost relishing the idea of finding someone sneaking about.

Toushirou sighed, looking at the paperwork in front of him. He wanted to return. He wanted to go back to Karin and spend time with her. He wanted to see the Vizard again and be around their casual demeanor. They'd always treated him as an equal and addressed him simply, with a kind of respectful familiarity that he hadn't had in a long while. Nobody here in the Soul Society, aside from a select few, was really close to him and even so it wasn't the kind of joking, easy going and relaxing relationship that Toushirou had with the Vizard.

Hiyori would punch him and call him stupid, but she did truly care how his day was going. Shinji was aloof at times and yet at others casually helpful, offering his assistance silently and without question and keeping everyone calm in a hectic situation. Everyone else had their quirks too. Lisa had offered him several times to look through her magazines and when he'd taken one look at the cover and blushed several shades of red, Karin had stepped in and promptly tugged him away. Then, when they were alone, she'd teased him about it.

Karin…

Toushirou set his brush down and reached into his robe, where the fragmented Hollow mask was still lying against his chest, strung around his neck with that leather cord. He fingered it lightly, looking down at it. The white, bleached-bone effect that the mask seemed to have in the sunlight was somewhat unsettling to begin with, but now Toushirou found it oddly familiar. After all, the Vizard were part Hollow and they were dear to him. He couldn't reject their Hollow sides since it was part of their characters. It was in their nature.

Karin was also part Hollow. That little human girl was part Hollow. Toushirou had mulled the concept over in his head numerous times already. Karin wasn't a Shinigami, yet her soul, which was fused with a Hollow's, managed to leave her human body without too much fuss, similar to how the substitute Shinigami Kurosaki's did. Karin was a hybrid, much like the Vizard. A hybrid, Toushirou knew from the Winter War, naturally had an advantage over any 'pure' being, such as himself. That, coupled with the fact that Karin had been trained personally by the Vizard helped to explain her insanely high level of hand-to-hand combat. If Karin should also become a Shinigami, in addition to what she already was, she'd be on the same 'existence level' as her brother.

Toushirou vaguely wondered what it was like being a hybrid. He frowned down at the mask fragment in his hand. Karin had told him once that being part Hollow left you with an echoing feeling in your heart at times. She'd put a hand to her chest and told him seriously, "You've gotta keep strong or else you're dead."

To hear such harsh words spoken from such a young girl's mouth had really struck a chord within him. Toushirou had decided then that he didn't particularly want to become part Hollow if that was what one had to deal with. Kurosaki was always having trouble with his own Inner Hollow.

Toushirou turned the mask fragment over in his fingers. He was very tempted to simply feed it a sliver of his own reiatsu and vanish for a while to go visit Karin down in the World of the Living. He couldn't though. If his reiatsu vanished, someone would be bound to notice. Even if Toushirou roped Kyouraku and Ukitake into helping him, the two captains alone would not be sufficient to keep his absence a secret. And if he got caught…

Even with the Winter War over, the Vizard were far from forgiven in the soutaicho's eyes. Despite the Vizard being proven innocent and their exile from the Soul Society had been unnecessary, they were still in hiding. If Toushirou got caught while with them, he would have not only gotten himself into danger but the Vizard as well. Not to mention, if the Soul Society found out about Karin, they'd no doubt try to convince her to become a Shinigami as well. Or they might pull out some ancient law that forbid the existence of Hybrids or humans knowing about the spiritual plane and then lock her up.

Toushirou fisted his hands at the thought. No. He'd much rather suffer here alone for a while than risk any of that happening. He just had to be patient for a while longer.

He could already imagine Karin's face when he finally showed up there again. He'd probably have to duck to avoid a broken nose. After all, that goodbye that they'd shared outside the Urahara store the last time had been, for all intents and purposes, a silent promise to come back soon.

Toushirou thought back to the promise that he had made to the substitute Shinigami on that evening. _"I'll make sure she never is." _

It was a promise made in the heat of argument, but Toushirou fully intended to keep it. That was his resolve. He would protect Karin at all costs and if that meant getting her angry at him for not showing up for a while, then he'd just have to deal with her later. Keeping her safe from the Soul Society was his main priority, no matter how much it hurt to stay away.

He sighed, slipping the mask fragment back under his robes. He wanted to see her again so badly that his chest actually hurt. Toushirou knew already that his feelings for the young human girl ranged past those of simple friendship. If his feelings towards her were purely platonic then he wouldn't have to deal with that clenching around his heart every time that she decided to smile at him, or the static electricity that leapt on his skin whenever she touched him.

No, he didn't see her in a platonic way, and that scared him. Toushirou already knew that he'd do virtually anything to ensure her safety, not only because of the promise that he'd made to her brother, but also because of a sense of needing to have her okay. But the fact that he wanted more out of their relationship than he was already getting made him feel somewhat greedy. Besides, what exactly did he want from Karin? He could barely understand the situation himself. He knew that his body was just barely entering the adolescent stage but even so he would have expected this transition to make more sense. Right now, he was clueless. And he didn't like feeling clueless.

He'd struggled a few times with the compulsion to kiss her, he knew, yet he also knew that he couldn't do that. Karin was much younger than him, by any standards, and had most likely never even considered the possibility of a relationship of anything further than friends with him.

For now, he was satisfied with having her trust. He'd just have to wait out a few more years until Karin was older and then, maybe then, if she liked him and he was clearer on his own feelings too, he could make a move.

But, damn it, why was he so impatient?

He sighed, fisting his hair in his hands. This was going to be a long wait.

A commotion from outside his office door made him glance up. He frowned, trying to sense who was making such a loud ruckus when everyone in his squad knew to be quiet outside his door. Almost instantly, Toushirou could sense the reiatsu of the substitute. How had he not sensed the huge reiatsu signature before now? Had he really been that deep in thought?

His door slid open and Toushirou fixed the orange-haired intruder with a level stare. Kurosaki, for his part, was acting nonchalant as he stood there in his Shinigami attire. "Yo, Toushirou," Kurosaki greeted, raising a hand casually.

Behind the substitute, Toushirou could see a few of his subordinates that had obviously tried to keep the Kurosaki boy away from his office. He frowned at them and they scurried off to find safer pastures. Toushirou looked back at Ichigo who had entered the office by now and slid the door closed behind him. "It's Hitsugaya-taicho, Kurosaki."

"I got it, I got it," Ichigo muttered, waving a dismissive hand. Toushirou scowled at the response. Perhaps he wasn't that adamant about his title in the World of the Living, especially around the Vizard, but here in the Soul Society he did expect some form of respect from the substitute. Toushirou caught onto his train of thought. Did it really matter what people called him depending on where he was? It was only Kurosaki and himself in the office right now. If he let the substitute refer to him more casually in the World of the Living, then why not here too?

He sighed, closing his eyes and speaking before he could change his mind. "If you must insist on leaving out my title, Kurosaki," he began, speaking through clenched teeth, "then at least do me the courtesy of referring to me by my surname."

Ichigo stopped dead in his tracks, gaping at the young prodigy. Had the ice-captain really just agreed to the fact that Ichigo could forget about the title? The orange-head frowned, raising a hand to cup the back of his neck as he stared at the ceiling. "What's with that?" he asked, still studying the ceiling. "I always thought you were so fond of your title 'cause you worked your butt off for it…"

Toushirou's brow twitched. "Then why don't you refer to me as such?"

"Ah… I'm not one for formalities."

Toushirou resisted the urge to snort. "I noticed."

Ichigo turned his eyes on the young captain again. He seemed more relaxed somehow… less uptight than in the past. Had his time with the Vizard really changed him that much? Or was it his relationship with Karin that was helping the young captain to get a new perspective on things? After all, Toushirou was risking that captaincy to just spend more time with her. And now the said captain was giving Ichigo permission to drop the title. Was he realizing that a captaincy wasn't all that important?

Ichigo heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine then, fine. If you'll stop complaining about your title then I guess I can call you by your surname, Hitsugaya." The frown on his face deepened. "Man, that sounds weird."

Toushirou reached for his brush again to continue his paperwork. "Get used to it, Kurosaki."

For a while, the substitute simply stood in the room, regarding the younger-looking party. It was amazing really, how much the tension in Toushirou's shoulders had lessened since before the Winter War. Perhaps this whole sneaking-around business was actually doing some good for the kid. He'd had to mature before his age in order to assume responsibility for the captain's position for which he was strong enough for, and therefore he'd skipped out on most of his childhood development. From what Ichigo understood, he'd had no friends in Rukongai to interact with and therefore had minimal amount of time to really explore who he was. Perhaps the young captain was catching up on that now.

Ichigo shrugged. "Ah, whatever. I just came to drop this off." He placed a small, flattish package on Toushirou's desk. Toushirou looked at it, his brush freezing in his hand.

"What's this?" he questioned, his tone giving nothing away.

"From some friends," Ichigo replied lightly. "No big deal." The orange-head's brown eyes conveyed the importance of the package though. Lowering his voice, Ichigo leant forward a little to ensure that nobody outside the door heard him. "I'll let them know how tight the security over here is."

Toushirou's eyes widened a little as he put the pieces together. Ichigo nodded once and straightened up, heading back towards the door. When the substitute's hand was about to touch the wooden sliding door, Toushirou stood. "Kurosaki."

The substitute stopped and looked over his shoulder with a look of curiosity. Toushirou bit the inside of his lip but steeled himself. The orange-head, as annoying as he was, had just taken a huge risk to bring him this package. It was the least that Toushirou could do in return. Taking a deep breath, Toushirou averted his eyes. "Thank you."

Ichigo almost keeled over in surprise. Those two words were something that he'd not been expecting. "Were you hit on the head?"

Toushirou's temper flared. "I just thanked you, imbecile! Stop looking so shocked!"

Ichigo allowed himself a chuckle.

"Also," Toushirou continued, still looking away. Ichigo noticed with some interest that the young captain was still blushing a bit from embarrassment. "Say… Give my regards to everyone."

Ichigo stayed still for a while. Toushirou was not the type to greet people or exchange pleasantries with others for no reason. His brown eyes narrowed as he dissected the real message behind Toushirou's carefully chosen words. The captain didn't want to send a greeting. He wanted to apologize to the Vizard that he couldn't come. And Karin, of course, Ichigo realized belatedly. It still made the older brother's head spin that the young captain had taken an interest in his little sister.

"Yeah," Ichigo answered. "I will."

As the door to his office slid closed, Toushirou looked back to the package lying on his desk. Walking over to his office door through which Kurosaki had just left, Toushirou ensured that it was really closed before he returned to his desk. Picking up the package, Toushirou went and sat down on the couch that was located further away from the office door. Also, the back of the couch would obscure sight of the package from anyone who would enter the office unannounced. Like Matsumoto.

As he took a seat, Toushirou examined the package. It was relatively small and rather flat, though it was very flexible and had a few lumps in it. It was wrapped in inconspicuous brown paper and secured with string. Taking care with unwrapping it, just in case there was something fragile inside it, Toushirou pulled the string off and then proceeded to remove the brown paper.

Two haphazardly folded pieces of paper and a small object came tumbling out.

Toushirou picked up the small object first and studied it from all angles. It didn't take him long to realize that it was yet another Hollow mask fragment secured to a leather cord. He frowned at it, wondering what this one was for. He reached for the first note then, hoping for an explanation to be inside.

The note was simple and written on flimsy, lined paper that he remembered seeing very commonly in the World of the Living. There were many scribbles and crossed out words dotting the page and here and there there'd be splotches of ink, as though whoever had written the note had been in a hurry or using a very leaky pen. After deciphering the note – which took him a good ten minutes due to its horrendous state – Toushirou managed to gather that the Hollow mask fragment was a replacement for the one that Karin had given him before. Apparently the mask fragments didn't last very long because the kidou that Hacchi had cast on them eventually wore off and the mask fragments began to disintegrate. The fragment that they'd sent him now was a replacement.

Toushirou allowed himself a smile. This was from the Vizard, he knew, and this was their roundabout way of telling him that he had better come back and pay them another visit in the future.

The note was signed 'Pigtails, Horseteeth and co'. He had to shake his head.

Toushirou slipped the new mask fragment around his neck and hid it beneath his robes like the first one. Since he wasn't sure how to destroy the first one or get rid of it safely, he'd just wear both until he could ask the Vizard how to dispose of an old mask fragment, or if it simply disappeared on its own.

Toushirou picked up the second note then and unfolded it. This one was much easier to read, despite the neatness of the handwriting to be somewhat lacking. At least there weren't illegible sections like in the last note from the Vizard. There was only one sentence scribbled onto the paper and no signature.

'You still owe me a rematch, Shorty.'

Toushirou couldn't help but snicker. That was so typical Karin. And it was true. After she'd healed herself in the Vizard's hideout with her instant regeneration, she'd wanted a match with him. He'd delayed it because he'd known that she was exhausted. So he'd promised to fight with her again once she'd managed a cero.

He froze, his hands completely still. If Karin was demanding that rematch now… He clenched his teeth. Damn it, had she already learned how to produce a cero? Why did she have to be on the same insane growth-rate curve as her brother?

Toushirou stood, hurriedly slipping both notes into his desk drawer and locking it securely. He then strode out of his office, intent on going to find Soi Fon and demanding more hand-to-hand combat lessons from her. He'd be stiff for a few days afterwards but it would be worth it. Toushirou was determined not to get shown up by Karin again during their next match. He would win the next time.

But first he had to get more practice.

* * *

Karin huffed again, frowning at her desk. She was once again stuck in school. How Ichi-nii managed to keep his head sitting behind a desk all day while knowing that he was half-dead anyway and more than likely destined to go and live somewhere in the Soul Society one day where he'd have no need for an A in Biology, was beyond her.

Karin rested her chin on her hand, allowing her head to loll to the side. Her teacher had declared this lesson study hall and most kids were using this time to catch up on homework or gossip. A few desks away, Karin could see Yuzu diligently scribbling something into her book. Whether it was her math sums or a new recipe was another matter entirely though. Looking at her gentle twin, Karin was glad that Yuzu knew the truth about what was going on. Yuzu may be kind and sweet, but she was no idiot. Her brother's absences had hurt her enough to convince Karin to tell her twin the truth. Yuzu had taken it surprisingly well and adjusted her stride to accommodate this new information.

When Karin had told her twin that she was now part monster, Yuzu had broken out into tears, sniffled a bit, begun to think positive and then offered to bring dinner around. The other Vizard had been reluctant to let a human know about them but one whiff of Yuzu's homemade chicken pie had convinced them of her worth. Later, they'd come to trust her too and now welcomed her into their hideout, safe in the knowledge that the girl would never reveal their secret to anybody.

With Toushirou, the scenario had played out a little differently in that they had virtually dragged the poor Shinigami into their hideout in order to stop him from snooping around and finding out too much information on them. Later, when he'd been convinced that they weren't in fact dangerous outlaws and had promised high and low not to breathe a word, and Ichi-nii had assured the Vizard of his trustworthiness, Toushirou had been let go.

And even invited back.

Karin thought about the mask fragment that the Vizard had sent to Toushirou via Ichi-nii. The old fragment, which she'd given him in front of her mother's grave, would stop working very soon. There was only so long that Hacchi's magic could be effective on it. Theoretically, Hacchi could have cast his spell on virtually any object to get the same result, but the Hollow mask was able to retain the kidou for much longer than anything else.

Karin chewed on the inside of her cheek, thinking about the new mask fragment that Toushirou now had. This new fragment, as with the old one, had been taken from her own mask. Once she'd summoned it, Hiyori had broken a piece off and Hacchi had promptly frozen it in place with his powerful kidou and then woven the appropriate spells around it for the mask fragment to complete its job of hiding the wearer's reiatsu signature.

Hiyori had tried teasing her about the fact that Toushirou was going to, unknowingly, be wearing a part of Karin's mask and Karin had retaliated with a jab of her own, subsequently starting up a fight between the two.

Karin sighed, thinking further about it. She wasn't exactly uncomfortable with the idea, it was just that it left her feeling somewhat odd. The notion that anybody would be wearing anything of hers was strange enough, but the fact that it would be Toushirou wearing what was practically part of her soul was even stranger.

And, in a secret way, somewhat thrilling.

It went without saying that Karin trusted Toushirou with close to anything. She'd trusted him enough to know that he'd keep her and the Vizard's secret that first time when he'd left and she'd trusted that he'd come back to visit after she'd given him that first mask fragment. She'd also trusted that he'd survive the Winter War against Aizen. He hadn't disappointed her in any of those yet and Karin didn't think that he'd start breaking his word now.

There was a new kind of bond developing between them. Karin could sense that. She wasn't quite sure yet what kind of bond, but she liked it. It was a special kind of link that she hadn't felt towards any of her other friends so far and made her want to spend more time with him than what she was already lucky to have. Toushirou was a captain, after all, and they were very busy. Also, Ichi-nii had told her that the Soul Society had gone into a state of semi-paranoia about those two missing reiatsu amplifiers that Mayuri had created because they still hadn't caught the thief.

Quite frankly, Karin was astounded that Matsumoto had managed to nick them from the scientist in the first place.

Karin shook her head, staring vacantly at her finished homework on her desk. She'd finished her work for the day and this afternoon she'd go and play some soccer with her friends perhaps. It was only the beginning of the week but already Karin wished for Friday and the weekend to arrive. Then she could go and spend some good, solid time at the Vizard's hide out and train some more. She was doing well in developing her cero, though it was still a bit shaky at times, especially when she was running low on energy.

She'd strengthen her cero by the time that Toushirou came back for another visit. Then she'd show him how much she'd improved and have a rematch against him.

She grinned in appreciation at the thought. She couldn't wait for Toushirou to come back. After their match they could sit around and talk for a while or just bicker over something stupid. Or perhaps he could show her some kidou move or tell her more about the Soul Society or what antics Matsumoto was getting up to lately.

A subtle snap sounded from between her fingers and Karin looked down at her hand. Dark blue ink was staining the skin there and she sighed in exasperation. She really had to stop breaking her pens. Her strength, even in her human body, had grown immensely and sometimes she was still getting used to it.

"Great, now I need to clean that up."

* * *

Hiyori was bored out of her mind. The blonde girl was lying sprawled out over a rock, her hand dangling over the edge listlessly and her mouth turned down into a scowl as she glared at the fake blue sky above her. There was nothing to do. Absolutely nothing to do. All of the Vizard were busy with something or other and nobody was in the mood to spar with her. Karin, who would have jumped at the chance to go head-to-head with her, was at school. It was Thursday.

Hiyori huffed, allowing a frustrated, strangled growl to escape her throat. "Aw, man! I'm gonna go crazy!"

"Too late," someone hollered from down below and the blonde girl bolted upright, pouncing on the chance to argue with someone. She easily spotted the person who had decided to reply.

"What'd you say, Mashiro?" Hiyori leapt from her rock to land heavily before the bouncy, green-haired Vizard. "Did you call me crazy?"

"Nope," the bubbly girl replied, putting her index finger to the corner of her mouth. "But you might just go crazy if you don't stop talking to yourself, Hiyori-tan."

Hiyori bared her fangs.

"Mashiro," Kensei stepped up, a shopping bag clutched in his hand. "Don't be so insensitive. Besides, talking to yourself is normal."

The green-haired girl blinked her large, inquisitive eyes. "Oh?"

"That's right!" Love interjected, waving a clenched fist in the air as though proclaiming a great truth. "To talk to oneself is the expression of the mind; a beautiful and cleansing thing indeed!"

"It's when you start _arguing_ with yourself that it gets dangerous," Shinji agreed, strolling past, already heading towards the grill and taking the shopping packet from Kensei.

"And it's the most dangerous," Hacchi piped up, "when you begin to lose said argument."

Hiyori rolled her eyes. Typical. She'd ask a simple question and they'd all go off on a tangent about it, inevitably ending up in a philosophical discussion about something or other. Now, if Karin were here the girl would have just shrugged her shoulders and answered Hiyori's initial question with a simple, "Probably," and then proceeded to drag the blonde onto the training grounds so that they could both blow off some steam.

Hiyori crossed her arms, eyeing the shopping packet that Shinji was currently emptying out on a nearby rock. She was starting to get hungry and lunch was late for some reason. Kensei saw her displeased expression and shrugged, saying, "Town was busy."

It was probably as much information as she was going to get out of the man. Brilliant. Just freaking fantastic.

Maybe she'd go crash Karin's soccer practice later or something. It was nearing the end of the week - finally. Any more of this and Hiyori feared she'd snap someone's head off.

* * *

The meeting room, in which the captains stood, was dimly lit as per usual. Toushirou didn't like the room at all. It didn't have any windows – they were filled in after a Shinigami had been caught eavesdropping through them – and as such offered no natural light. It also got stuffy in there during the summer, leaving everyone irritable and in need of a way to vent. Normally, said venting would be done on one another, given the obvious absence of any other available outlet in the room.

In short, Toushirou always expected a fight to break out over a minor indecision.

Or the past hour, he'd been standing in spot already, keeping his eyes firmly shut in order to better block out the sounds of squabbling from several of his fellow captains. Currently, Mayuri and Byakuya were having a go at one another. Toushirou had lost track over what they were arguing and, quite frankly, simply wanted to leave.

In all honesty, he wanted to leave the Soul Society and go spend some time with the Vizard but currently that was not an option.

"Oi, Yama-jii," Kyouraku spoke up then, interrupting the argument and drawing all eyes upon himself.

The old man tilted his head to better look at one of his oldest pupils. "What is it?"

Kyouraku lifted a hand to his straw hat, tilting down the front edge a little and giving his superior a relaxed, sidelong look. "Isn't it about time that we addressed that matter?"

The silence in the room was noticeably curious. The soutaicho held the pause for a while to better emphasize his words. "What matter?"

Toushirou was also curious. What was Kyouraku referring to? Said brown-haired captain got straight to the point. "The Vizard."

A hushed silence fell over the room at that one name. Toushirou stiffened, though he retained his icy mask. What was Kyouraku up to, bringing that topic up in the middle of a captain's meeting? The younger captain let his eyes slide sideways to the taller man standing beside him. Kyouraku wasn't going to tell… right?

"What about them?" the soutaicho enquired, his tone flat and harsh.

The 8th Division captain lowered his hand again and tucked both of them into his uniform sleeves, the pink women's kimono that was draped over his shoulders shifting slightly. "They helped us a lot during the Winter War. In fact, if they hadn't helped us, we would have been toast. The lot of us." He paused to let his words sink in. "We've dealt out awards and praise to all of the Shinigami involved in securing Aizen's imprisonment, yet we've failed to address the Vizard. Don't you think they deserve at least something for helping us in bringing Aizen down?"

The atmosphere in the room was tense and Toushirou swallowed hard. He was probably even more tense than anybody else, especially since he had been personally involved with the Vizard even before the final showdown in the fake Karakura Town.

The soutaicho sat unmoving on his chair, his wrinkled face unyielding. "They do not."

Several captains looked up in surprise at the blunt answer. Ukitake took the first initiative to speak. "But, they-"

"Ukitake-taicho!" the head captain cut the younger off. "You forget that the Vizard, no matter how helpful their actions toward us during the Winter War, are still a group of traitors." Toushirou sucked in a breath at his superior's cold, stubborn words.

"Outcasts." The soutaicho had his eyes partially opened, glaring at anyone who dared to oppose him. "They may not have been at fault for their betrayal to the Soul Society a hundred years ago but they are betrayers nonetheless!"

The soutaicho's cane slammed down on the wooden flooring.

Kyouraku stepped forward. "If I may say so, Yama-jii, the Vizard aren't exactly a group of outlaws. Most of use here know them or have known them from before they were forced into hiding by Central 46's decision to have them killed off for being abominations. I do recall Shinji-taicho to be a regular fanatic about human world artifacts and music trends. Ah, and Hiyori-chan seems as violent as ever. Of course, my lovely Lisa-chan has grown to be even more attractive over the past 100 years. From what I could gather from her on the battle field, she seems just as nosy as ever of things that aren't her business."

Toushirou listened quietly. It was a brilliant tactic that Kyouraku was employing. By talking about the Vizard individually and bringing up aspects of their personalities, Kyouraku was letting everyone present realize that the Vizard are people with real lives and fates, not simply members of a faction that might or might not be dangerous. And, judging from the looks on the faces of his coworkers, it seemed to be working.

Soi Fon chose that moment to speak up. "That is all good and well, Kyouraku-taicho, but it still leaves the fact that these people, however familiar they are to some of us, are now part Hollow."

Toushirou frowned, narrowing his eyes just a little. Soi Fon was dedicated to her work and an excellent captain but sometimes she followed the rules just a little too closely for his liking. Had he ever been like that? "You're inferring that they may be threats."

"Exactly," Soi Fon replied. "This is nothing personal against them but we have to consider our own safety and whether or not they are manageable to be around."

Toushirou clenched his fists. He wanted to yell at Soi Fon and tell her that the Vizard were perfectly fine to be around. He personally knew that each and every one of them had a firm grip on their inner Hollow and that they each ensured that everyone around them remained safe. He restrained himself though. Defending them in this situation wasn't worth giving himself – and thereby them – away.

"We need to remember," Byakuya spoke up in his calm and measured tone, "that the substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, is also part Hollow. I do not believe that these Vizard are any more dangerous than Kurosaki is. If anything, they would be safer, as Soi Fon-taicho put it, to be around. They have had a hundred years to accustom themselves to their state of being, whereas Kurosaki's Hybrid Hollow state is still new to him."

The calm and collected words of the Kuchiki noble put most of the captains in the room at ease. It was a fair point, after all.

"If nothing else," Ukitake said tentatively, though still managing to keep his voice steady, "they should be allowed back into the Soul Society without fear of persecution. They have, after all, done nothing wrong."

"And if they don't want to come back?" Unohana asked. Several eyes in the room all turned on her quiet, yet imposing figure. "What if they do not wish to return and much prefer living outside of the Soul Society's jurisdiction? What will we do then?"

Ukitake stepped back into line, scratching the back of his head. "That is… well… I don't know."

"The initial problem would be to even locate them," Mayuri piped up, raising a hand to emphasis his point. In the shady atmosphere of the captain's room, the man looked even more intimidating than usual. "After all, they've hidden themselves for over 100 years. Who's to say that we'll find them now after all this time? As Unohana-taicho said, they may not want to be found."

A thoughtful silence settled over the ten captains. Finally, the soutaicho got everyone's attention by knocking his cane upon the wooden floor. "That is enough." The old man stood from his seat, further fixing everyone's full attention upon himself. "You all seem to have come to a conclusion yourselves about what to do for this situation regarding the Vizard. Very well. It shall be put to the vote."

Several heads perked up and Toushirou's mouth went dry. A vote…

"The options are as follows," the soutaicho continued in a dry, rasping voice. "Option One: We continue as we have before, ignoring the Vizard yet allowing them to continue living in peace without our interference unless they cause a disturbance."

Toushirou mulled that one over. It was obvious that this was the option that the soutaicho would want to choose.

"Option Two: We pool our efforts into locating them and convincing them to come here, so that we may officially award them some form of compensation for their century of exile."

Toushirou bit the inside of his lip. With this option, perhaps the Vizard would be released from exile and they'd be able to live without secrecy. Perhaps he'd be able to go see the Vizard – and Karin – much more often. He swallowed. It was such a tempting offer… He could spend as much time as he wanted to with all of them.

The soutaicho continued. "Any other options all relate to either ignoring them or locating them. Any further steps will be decided upon depending on this initial vote. Now then, all in favour of Option One?"

Toushirou gritted his teeth. He badly – so badly – wanted to go with the second option. He would be able to see the Vizard much more often. He wouldn't be jeopardizing his captaincy position over them. He'd be able to spend time with Karin… and get closer to her.

But no, he couldn't do that. The second option would be for purely selfish reasons.

With slightly shaking fingers, Toushirou raised his hand in favour for Option One. He could feel Kyouraku sending him an inquisitive sidelong glance. Toushirou had to vote for the first one. The Vizard liked their privacy; he knew that better than anyone. They'd let him know exactly what they thought of the Soul Society and their reluctance to return there. They'd grown fond of their independence and Toushirou couldn't say that he blamed them. There were times when he himself wished that he didn't have to adhere to Soul Society protocol, yet was bound by the questionable orders and laws of his superiors.

When he looked around at his fellow captains though, Toushirou felt a sinking feeling in his gut when he counted the number of hands in the air. Aside from himself, only Unohana and Komamura were in favour of the first choice. The soutaicho was probably not going to vote at all in order to leave the number of captains to vote at an uneven number, thereby providing a clear result.

"Very well," the soutaicho continued. "All those in favour of Option Two?"

The remainder of the captains, including Ukitake and Kyouraku raised their hands. Toushirou suppressed the urge to swear. Didn't those two understand that the Vizard didn't need nor want any recognition?

"It is decided," the soutaicho said, his tone making it very clear that he didn't approve of the decision one little bit but would go along with it as per the vote's result. "We shall dispatch several search parties to the World of the Living first thing tomorrow morning in order to locate the Vizard. If there are no more issues to be resolved…" the oldest captain let his question hang in the air. When nobody had anything to add, the man banged his stick once again. "Very well. The meeting is adjourned."

The rest of the captains began to file from the hall. Toushirou turned sharply on his heel and left too, unwilling to face his coworkers at this point for idle chatter. He could already imagine the Vizard's faces when they got wind of this new development. Hiyori would most likely start fuming, screaming obscenities at the Shinigami and telling them to get the hell away from her. Shinji would most likely be holding her back, restraining her from slicing the hapless recruits' throats. The others would each have their own little snide comment to contribute and enhance the severity of the situation. Perhaps Love would make some reference to a manga book that he'd read. Lisa would probably turn it into a dirty joke or twist some words to embarrass the people.

"Hitsugaya-taicho," a voice yelled from behind him. Toushirou stopped in his tracks, his hands fisted tightly and his mind still miles away, trying to predict the Vizard's reactions. He wondered if they'd blame him.

From behind, Kyouraku and Ukitake came up. Toushirou turned to face them, an irritable scowl set on his features. "What?"

Kyouraku rubbed the back of his neck. The three of them were standing alone in one of the more deserted stone passages. The sun was shining bright up above and its heat was only making Toushirou more irritable. "It seems that you aren't very approving of our proposition to clear the Vizard's names…" Kyouraku said slowly, testing the waters with the younger captain.

Toushirou looked away, crossing his arms. "Of course not," he muttered quietly, looking around to make sure that nobody was close enough to overhear their incriminating conversation.

"I take it," Ukitake said pleasantly, "that the Vizard do not wish to be found?"

Toushirou simply shook his head, his eyes still searching for potential eavesdroppers.

"Of course, then we offer our apologies," Kyouraku said pleasantly. "And, to make it up to you and the Vizard, perhaps you would consider using one of our private senkaimon gates."

Toushirou stiffened, his eyes widening slightly. Were they seriously offering him a way to sneak off? Both Ukitake and Kyouraku came from noble families, after all, and as such they would have their own personal gates. But if he used one of their gates and was found out, he would have incriminated them for helping him.

As though reading his thoughts, Kyouraku waved a lazy hand in the air. "No worries, Hitsugaya-taicho. We can hold down the fort here for a few hours and keep any attention diverted from your absence. We've done similar things before. It'll be a cinch."

Still a little uneasy, Toushirou debated with himself. If he took their offer then he'd be able to get to the Vizard ahead of any reconnaissance teams and warn them of the decision. It might help them to make a good choice and then he'd leave it up to their judgment to decide. He could even stop by Karin's house and see her. It was just past noon now, which meant that Karin was just coming out of school due to it being a Friday and her school letting out early every Friday. She normally headed to soccer practice. At least, that was what she'd told him her routine was like on a Friday. Towards the evening she headed over to the Vizard to train and spend the weekend there. Yuzu would sometimes come with.

Nodding to himself, Toushirou looked back up at the two waiting captains. "I appreciate your help."

Kyouraku gave a sly grin. "Of course. It's the least we can do for a fellow captain with relationship issues."

Toushirou's brow twitched. "Kyouraku…"

"Now, now, don't embarrass him," Ukitake spoke up, swiftly stepping in before an argument could break loose. "You are free to use my family's gate, Hitsugaya-taicho. I will personally make sure that nobody finds out."

Toushirou nodded. "Let's get going."

* * *

**Review please ^_^**


	10. Trials

**Hi all! So… I know this story hasn't been updated in, what, two years, but here's a chapter. I have not forgotten about it, yet I have always put off writing this chapter. When I read back to how awkward my writing style during the first few chapters is, I want to cringe. Right now, there's still a part of me that wants to bury this story and never let it see the light of day again. However, the fact that there are still people reading and reviewing it, even after I've abandoned it for so long, makes me keep it up. So thank you, everyone. **

**This is, technically, the last chapter. There is going to be an epilogue, posted soon. Yes, I do mean soon. I will keep this promise. I am working on it now. So, I hope you enjoy it! **

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos [Chapter 6; Trials]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

The gate closed behind him and Toushirou hoped that he'd be back before he was discovered missing. Sunset was approaching so maybe nobody would be looking for him until morning. He'd asked Kyouraku to let Matsumoto know what had happened.

His reiatsu was already hidden with the Hollow Mask fragment that Ichigo had given him and was glad for it. From where he stood, he could already feel about ten reiatsu signatures moving across Karakura and the surrounding areas. He cursed under his breath. The soutaicho sure moved fast. In the short time that it had taken him to move to Ukitake's property and prepare the private gate, there were already search teams about, looking for the Vizard.

He had to find Karin quickly. Concentrating, he could feel her reiatsu towards where he knew the soccer fields were. Seemed like practice was running late. He stopped by the Urahara store first though, picking up a gigai. Then, once in a fake body, he pulled one of those queer real-world clothing items on. Karin had once referred to it as a 'hoodie'. He was glad that Urahara kept a stash of real-world clothing in his spare rooms. He kept the hood firmly on his head, hiding his white hair. Even if his reiatsu was suppressed by the Hollow Mask fragment, it didn't mean that he wouldn't be seen or recognized. And he could not risk that.

He took off at a run, thankful that he could quite easily blend in with the humans. Never had he thought he'd be hiding from his own subordinates. He felt like a villain or a rogue. It was actually a bit exciting! He shook the feeling off. _Focus_.

Karin was on the field, practicing. Her friends, four guys, were surrounding her. Toushirou pushed aside any misgivings that he was feeling about Karin spending that much time around other boys. Jealousy would have to wait. He jogged up to the group of five, keeping tabs on the patrolling Shinigami.

Karin spotted him. How she recognised him he wasn't sure, but he quickly made a shushing motion with his hand. When he pointed a finger over his shoulder where a Shinigami was just jumping across a building, her eyes widened just a little. He came closer, disregarding any suspicious looks from the other boys.

"Hide your head and stay low," Toushirou told her, completely ignoring her friends. "We've got to get to the others right now."

She seemed to understand that he was in no mood for jokes. She gave her confused friends a cursory wave and a quick, "Sorry, see you Monday! Tell Yuzu I'll be around!", and then ran to catch up with him. Toushirou did try to suppress the small tint of victory that he felt when she chose him over her friends so easily.

* * *

"So?" Shinji asked, leaning up against a rock, hands in his pockets and lazy attitude still intact. "What's so serious that you had to sneak past the heavy security that Ichigo said you guys were under?"

Toushirou's arrival had not been met with the usual fervour. That alone was off-putting. They knew that he was the bearer of bad news and were preparing themselves for it. For the first time in their presence, Toushirou could sense the divide between them. His Shinigami uniform and captain's haori didn't help matters since he'd discarded the gigai in the top part of the warehouse, instead choosing to remain in soul-form. They were all in casual clothing, another testament to their differences.

"Spit it out, Shorty! What's with all the Shinigami reiatsu signatures all over town?" Hiyori snapped, temper short. Toushirou shot her a glare but didn't argue back.

He heaved a sigh, steeling himself. "It was decided in the meeting today that you were to be found and compensated for your century of exile and rewarded for your contributions in the war."

The silence following this pronouncement made it all worse. Toushirou could feel hostility brewing, though he wasn't sure whether it was directed towards him or not.

Then Hiyori grabbed him by the front of his uniform and shook him roughly. "What the hell is that?! Was this your idea? Eh?! Shorty! Who the hell came up with something so retarded!"

Toushirou finally wrenched himself free. "It wasn't me, idiot! I voted against this whole scheme!"

"Hah!" Hiyori barked, cynical. "I don't believe you! Big words, shrimp!"

"Now listen you-"

A hand fell to his shoulder and he turned his head to find Shinji there, sighing. "Whatever. It doesn't matter who came up with the idea. The point is that they are looking for us." He smiled mirthlessly. "To _reward_ us."

"They sound rather high and mighty," Rose observed, shaking his head. "Like they are deigning to finally acknowledge us. How pretentious."

"Agreed," Love said, arms crossed and a scowl on his lips. "Such actions are not becoming to those calling themselves heroes."

Mashiro was holding a finger to her lips, pouting. "Meanies."

And that about summed up the situation. Beside him, Karin was leaning against the boulder, shoulders slumped. He watched her quietly as she kicked a stone. She was probably disappointed that his visit brought such news with it. He was disappointed too. Normally he'd much rather spend his time with them lounging around in the underground training room watching Ichigo get beaten up or having a spar against Karin. He'd also been thinking about going up against one of the other Vizard in the future. Now he was just hoping they wouldn't be too angry with him for being the bearer of bad news. His gut did uncomfortable clenching things at the thought of being shunned from their group. He liked these people.

Hacchi had remained silent so far, pink eyebrows furrowed. "Toushirou-san, what is your opinion on this?" He looked up at the man a little startled. Hacchi didn't sound in the least bit hostile towards him. In fact, none of the other Vizard were glaring at him. He had a second of clarity: his own face probably bore a similar expression of discomfort with the situation as their own. He was on the same side as them. And for some reason that made him unreasonably happy.

Hacchi continued. "You were at the meeting, were you not? What was the general response to such a proposal?"

Toushirou thought for a moment. "Most captains wanted you back, or at least your status as 'outlaws' revoked. General consent is that the Vizard should not need to remain hidden, fearing prosecution from the Soul Society." He paused a bit, frowning. "But-"

"Of course there's a 'but'." Kensei sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"But the soutaicho didn't seem too pleased with finding you. He seemed rather reluctant to let you guys back into the Soul Society-"

"Who cares!" Hiyori interrupted him then, fist clenched as though threatening an invisible opponent. "I want nothing to do with the old fart!"

"Shut up, Hiyori," Shinji drawled. "Listen to Toushirou for a second, will you?"

She smacked him with her sandal. Toushirou was just vaguely glad that some semblance of 'normal' had returned to the situation. "I don't think he wants much to do with you. So… if you just stay hidden for the time being and let the situation blow over, I think that he'll eventually tire of looking for you and will just leave you be. In other words, it-"

"We'll go."

All Vizard and Toushirou turned their heads towards Shinji in shock. The blonde was standing straight, grinning, ignoring the reddening sandal-print on the side of his head.

"What?" Hiyori was regaining her anger again, looking ready to explode.

Shinji cut her off. "I said we'll go. To the Soul Society. See what the old man wants from us. I'm quite curious now." He grinned. "That and I quite want to go back to visit some time, ya know? We may not be allies, but we're not enemies either."

Hiyori wasn't buying it. "Shinji-"

"I agree," Hacchi spoke up, raising a pudgy hand. "There may be some captains that do not think highly of us and of what we are, but we must not shy away from this. There may come a time in the future that we need our connections in the Soul Society. Reforging bridges while we can seems like an appropriate thing to do."

Kensei spat on the ground, gnashing his teeth. "Well, when you put it that way."

Mashiro was pouting. "Moh, do we have to? It doesn't seem like fun."

The Vizard fell into a discussion and Toushirou let his attention go back to Karin. She hadn't said a word so far, which in itself was unusual. It was as though she was cutting herself out of the situation.

"And of course," Shinji yelled, straining to make his voice heard above the squabbling. "Karin will be coming with us too!"

Both Karin and Toushirou snapped their heads round to look at the blonde man.

"Really?" Karin asked.

"No!" Toushirou bellowed.

They turned to glare at each other. Hiyori snickered in the background.

"We made a promise," Shinji continued, grinning. "We're sticking to it." Karin's grin was wide and Toushirou was gaping at the group. Hiyori was stalking up to them and threw an arm around Karin's shoulders.

"Of course! After all, you were a nightmare to deal with after we left you out of the Winter War! Ain't gonna happen again!" Both girls sported identical grins, suddenly pleased with the prospect of strolling into the metaphorical lion's den.

"But-" Toushirou tried to protest, but Karin cut him off.

"I'm coming with!" she exclaimed loudly, determined. She turned to him, serious. "I'm a Vizard too, Toushirou. So if the Soul Society want the Vizard to come, then I'm included."

He was ready to rip his hair out. "I just suggested that you guys lay low! What happened to that?! And why the hell do you need to go too? You're still alive, Karin!"

"So what?"

"So I don't know what the soutaicho will do! He says that he wants to congratulate the Vizard, but for all I know-"

"Enough." It was Kensei this time, stepping between the two arguing teens. Both looked up at the tall man, who had grasped each of their shoulders, wrenching them apart. "It's been decided. Karin is coming with. We're leaving nobody behind."

Toushirou felt dread settling into his stomach. Fear. For Karin. For all of the Vizard. In that moment, Toushirou hated the soutaicho. He paled. His thoughts were mutiny.

* * *

He felt like one of those caged lions that he'd seen on a short trip to the zoo. Matsumoto had dragged him to one many months ago on an assignment in the world of the living and he remembered feeling vaguely sorry for the large cat. Now he was pacing back and forth, running a rut into the wooden flooring outside the Captain's meeting room. Inside, the soutaicho was meeting with the Vizard. Alone.

The thought of Karin among the Vizard was chilling. What if Hiyori said the wrong bloody thing and got them all thrown into jail?! What if Mashiro decided to make a silly comment about Kuchiki's hairstyle? What if Kensei couldn't control his temper and broke that bloody chair that the soutaicho always sat on?!

"Taicho, calm down," Matsumoto told him, trying to calm him. "I'm sure they'll all be just fine."

Toushirou wasn't worried about showing concern about the Vizard in front of the other captains anymore. His secret had pretty much been blown when Mashiro hopped up to him where he stood in line and gave him a crushing hug, exclaiming that he didn't look like a 'blueberry-tan' this time. Luckily, Ukitake and Kyouraku had backed him up, possibly saving him from a dressing-down from the soutaicho.

The other captains were still looking at him strangely, though Toushirou was pretty sure that Mayuri was wondering whether he would have any value as a specimen. Kuchiki just seemed apathetic as usual, though even he had seemed slightly curious. Kenpachi's main focus had been whether or not any of the Vizard were worth fighting. From the fluctuating reiatsu levels inside, Toushirou gathered that the discussion was probably degenerating into an argument. That terrible knot of anxiety twisted violently in his gut.

Then the doors burst open, flying back against the walls on either side and several captains jumped. Karin was the first one out, and the look on her face was torn between devastation and fury. Toushirou took a step towards her, hand reaching out. "Karin-"

But she shot him one glance and turned away, using shunpo to vanish. Toushirou stared after her for a second. _She'd run? Why?_ He was about to take off after her when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, holding him back. He glanced back, finding Shinji looking grim. "Hirako-"

"Leave her for a moment. She needs to cool down."

Another angry voice joined them outside. "Like hell I'm going back into one of his silly squads!" Hiyori was stomping from the room, stance wide and hands fisted, metaphorical smoke pouring from her ears. "What's with that guy's attitude anyway? Some nerve he's got, asking us that! And then this!" She turned back, frothing at the mouth. "Ya hear that, oldie?! You suck!"

Toushirou was worried now, turning on the rest of the Vizard who were leaving the hall too. "What happened?" Hiyori was still spouting insults at the soutaicho, though Kensei had clapped a hand over her mouth, muffling them only a little.

Shinji sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Stupid old geezer. Wanted to split us up."

Toushirou blinked somewhat owlishly at the Vizard, who were all wearing near-identical sour expressions. He didn't understand though. What was so bad? Why had Karin run off? It wasn't so bad, right? "So?"

"So," Lisa said, her frown deepening behind her severe glasses, "we weren't happy about that. I'm not going to settle for being just another ordinary soldier in the ranks, spat on by Shinigami for the hollow inside me and not trusted by my comrades in arms." Bitterness - a grudge built over a century - crossed her face, settled into her bones. "No mission will be successful then. And I will not be happy either."

"Me neither," Rose intoned evenly, lips formed into a tight line. "I will not enter the Thirteen Divisions again. I have no place here anymore. And I will certainly not be parted from the people that have an understanding of me or my situation."

Of course. Toushirou had almost forgotten. Just because he and Matsumoto were so comfortable around the Vizard did not mean that everyone was. Already he could see Soi Fon shooting them venomous glares from behind her black fringe. And she had seen their powers used for good with her own eyes. Hacchi had saved her life, yet her mistrust of the Vizard was evident. What would happen among the more prejudiced lower-ranked Shinigami who owed no such respect to the Vizard and knew only their hatred of Hollows? In training, it was taught to kill a hollow upon sight. Many had lost friends, family and lovers to the monsters and carried hatred in their hearts. Fear of the creatures was innate, taught and perpetuated during the service as a Shinigami. The Vizard would have to face this. To have the soutaicho split them up…

"So you refused." Toushirou put it simply, because it made sense to do so.

"No." Shinji scowled, his odd mouth pulling downward. Toushirou stared at the man in shock. "Couldn't exactly, the way the geezer put it."

Matsumoto's eyes went wide. "He threatened you?"

"Something like that. Not quite." Kensei was talking now, sighing, having released a simmering Hiyori. "He agreed to put us all into one group after we argued for a bit. A kind of backup unit, so to speak. I can deal with that. But…" he trailed off here, looking at the others for help, fists clenching angrily. Toushirou was getting a bad feeling in his stomach.

"But what?"

Shinji took over again, resigned bitterness in his voice, a tired note of agitation. "But we have to live here. In the Soul Society." Toushirou waited for the punchline. Shinji leant forward, knowing that Toushirou was not understanding. "_All_ of us."

That made Matsumoto reel back as he felt his own eyes widening. "You mean… even Karin-chan?!"

"Moh!" Mashiro was pouting, rocking back and forth. "Old man eyebrows wouldn't listen to Karin-tan when she said she didn't want to! Meany! Mean old man!"

"But she's human," Toushirou was saying, the situation sinking in slowly. Images of Karin, a living being, wandering amongst the dead, shunned for her beating heart, shunned for the hollow… He was getting angry now. "She's got a life in the World of the Living! She's alive-"

"Not really," Love interjected, scratching his head. "She is half hollow, like us. So she's technically half-dead. Or something. So the soutaicho is lumping her together with us. Doesn't trust us, see? Wants us all where he can watch us. All of us."

It was a cold fury in his veins, ice so cold it burned and hurt. Toushirou was turning on his heel then, storming back into the captain's hall. Reckless. Mutinous again. "Soutaicho!" His bellow was so loud that it brought the other captains running back, curious about the commotion.

The old man was sitting silently upon his chair, serious face staring back at him, a voice like gavel biting at his skin. "What, Hitsugaya-taicho?"

For a second he felt like a scolded child, but then he straightened his spine, tilting his chin, clenching his jaw. He was angry. He was angry at this man's cheek and at this man's prejudice towards people he had once relied on and trusted. "Change it!" he called, slicing his hand through the air. "Change your decision!"

Some of the captains were sucking in sharp breaths at his audacity. Toushirou didn't care. He was beyond caring at the moment. He was right about this, and the old man was wrong! Wrong! Wrong and stupid!

"She is human! Still a child! Not even dead yet! She has a life back in the world of the living, with her family! You have no right or power to separate her from that!" He was growing agitated, the Vizard gathering behind him. "Her brother and father fought against Aizen! Defeated him! What kind of gratitude to them is it that you take her away from them?!"

"Yeah!" a new voice piped up. "What kinda gratitude is that?" Heads turned as Kurosaki Ichigo strode into the room, giant sword strapped to his back.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." The soutaicho's voice was rough and dangerous. None of the opposing party took heed.

Ichigo for his part seemed to be at total ease among the captains, though there was a stern set to his eyes and jaw. "My sister is with the Vizard, but you will not keep her here by force." He was scowling at the soutaicho just as fiercely as Toushirou was, both Shinigami simmering, trying to keep their outrage at bay.

Another hand popped up then, the much smaller Kuchiki Rukia stepping out from behind the tall figure of Ichigo, her hand in the air. "I agree! Karin deserves her freedom!" she bravely declared, setting her jaw and fisting her hands, standing tall beside Ichigo in the face of authority. "I will stand up for this. I shall sign a petition if I must!" Toushirou was a little thrown off by her insistence upon a human custom such as a 'petition', but it seemed to have a certain shock-factor with the captains.

Byakuya looked surprised for just a moment. "Rukia."

She turned her gaze to his, unwavering. "Nii-sama, I support the Vizard. And I support that Karin should not have to stay here unless she wants to. I will not change my mind about this!"

Byakuya seemed to study his sister for a minute, a serious expression upon his face. Then he sighed, momentarily closing his eyes. "Very well. Where is the petition?"

"Kuchiki-taicho!" Ukitake exclaimed, surprised but glad, a smile on his face. "That is most kind of you. Well then, I suppose I shall sign too! Does anybody have paper?"

Kyouraku raised his hand. "Nanao-chan might have some." He glanced at the strict dark-haired girl questioningly. She'd already produced a clean sheet and had her brush poised to write, spectacles flashing. "Shall I sign for you, taicho?"

Kyouraku smiled fondly at her. "Such an efficient girl."

Matsumoto was waving her hand wildly. "Me! Me! Sign for me, Nanao-chan!"

"Me too!" Yachiru was giggling, pulling on Kenpachi's bells. "Put pachinko-head and peacock-boy down too-"

"Enough!" The soutaicho bellowed, voice ringing through the room and bringing all activities to a halt. The man was gritting his teeth, obviously displeased. "Very well. I can see the support that this cause has." There was a measure of reluctance to his next words, as though they pained him to say. "As such, I will allow Kurosaki Karin to return to her home in the World of the Living while the Vizard will remain here in the Soul-"

"Oi!" Shinji interrupted loudly, scowling again. Heads swiveled to him, looking at him questioningly. Why interrupt now? They'd just won the soutaicho's acceptance. "Didn't we tell you, old man?" Shinji asked, looking supremely annoyed with the old captain. "Karin's a Vizard too, just like us. We're not letting you split us up."

Kensei was quick to follow up. "Karin's staying with us. If she goes back to the World of the Living, all of us do. It's all or nothing here." He slapped his fist into his open palm, decisive. The Vizard stood stall, surrounding Ichigo, Rukia and Toushirou; all facing the angry soutaicho with heads held high. For a second, Toushirou felt relief. Relief that Karin had gained such strong, dependable allies. Relief that Karin would not be left alone or abandoned. His mind flashed back to that moment before her mother's grave, where she'd recounted her transformation. She'd seemed so lonely then, standing in front of the reminder of her loss, drenched in rain.

"Besides," Hiyori snarked, baring her fangs. "That way you won't have to deal with us every day."

It seemed to be the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back. The soutaicho crumbled, iron will breaking in the face of threatened mass-rebellion and support for the Vizard's obscure request. And really, what did it matter to him where they were stationed? And so he conceded, grumbling voice carrying across the hall.

* * *

He found her on the empty training fields of the 12th Division near a copse of trees. She was leaning on the trunk of a particularly thick tree, fist buried deep in its bark. Toushirou could tell that she'd tried hard not to fell the proud thing. Her arms were shaking. He could hear her swearing under her breath, voice coming in hitches. He could sense the distress in her voice, her stance and her body. Karin never ran from anything, her bravery extending to the point of foolishness. Yet when she'd been condemned to live here, in the Soul Society, away from her family that she loved so dearly, she had fled. Toushirou suspected she'd run so that she could have this break down in private, away from prying eyes. Already he could see her gathering herself, steadying her breathing. There was something akin to pride in his chest as he watched her clench her fists, tighten her jaw. Indomitable, Karin was. Truly.

A strong will to persevere, to fight through life. Toushirou didn't know very much about Karin just yet, but he did know - from snippets and glances and bits of gossip - that Karin had stepped up when her mother was killed. Stopped crying, Matsumoto had told him. Apparently the topic had come up at that sleepover she'd attended with the human girl, Tatsuki, and Inoue. Karin had stopped crying, looked out for herself. Apparently, Inoue claimed, it was to lighten the burden that her family bore. Then the Hollow - the same one that had killed her mother - had almost taken her life too. But Karin had beaten that, defeated the Hollowfication, turned it into strength and protected her family further.

Karin was still composing herself, taking deep breaths to steady herself. Toushirou took one himself. She'd had enough time to brood. And the fact that she'd run away from the fight left a bad taste in his mouth. No, Karin shouldn't run. Karin should never run. She was strong enough, and he'd help her if she'd let him. But she wouldn't, because she never let anyone help her. It was all about how best not to be a bother to anyone.

_Time to change that. Time to move._ He'd break her shock.

"Why are you hiding?"

Her head whipped around to him, teeth gritted. He kept his face stern, scolding, knowing she'd hate it. He reached for her hand, still fisted on the tree. Pulling it away, he unfurled her fingers, turning her hand over critically, examining the traces of blood on her knuckles. "A clumsy punch."

She jerked back, burned, and Toushirou caught the angry flush on her cheeks. She hated being talked to like that. "I am not hiding!" She was snapping at him again. _Good_.

"You're not?" he asked her, playing the cynic. "Because you certainly ran out of the captain's meeting hall very quickly." She was fuming mad at him by now, he could tell, and she stalked towards him like an angry tiger. But he was the dragon, and he'd match her.

"I did not run away!" she proclaimed loudly. He looked unimpressed. "I did not!" She was seething, trying to prove a point.

"Really now?" he goaded her. _Come on, come on_.

"I did not!"

"Kurosaki Karin," he taunted, sounding scathing, "running away from a fight. How brave."

Her cheeks coloured, righteous anger boiling. "I do not run. I do _not_ run!" She threw back her shoulders, and suddenly she was taller again. _Yes!_ "I'm going back there," she declared. "Right now. That old fart can't tell me what to do! He can't! And I'm not running," she hissed the last part at him, sparks flashing in her eyes.

Toushirou felt his lips curve into a small smile. _There we go._

Pleased, Toushirou watched her face turn to confusion as she tried to puzzle out his expression. Before she could jump to thinking he was mocking her - which he wasn't - he placed two hands on her shoulders. "The soutaicho changed his mind," he told her softly. Karin blinked at him, listening, the fight evaporating from her frame. "You, along with the other Vizard, will be a satellite-division for the Soul Society, stationed in the World of the Living. Specifically, Karakura town." Toushirou was finding her dumbfounded look rather endearing. She was normally so focused. Anger was fading away and understanding was lighting up her face. She had a second to be irritated with him, realising what he'd done, that she'd been tricked, before she was tackled from the side, an aggressive blonde knocking her sideways, out of Toushirou's grasp.

"Karin!" Hiyori was shaking her. "Hurry up! Let's get out of here before the old geezer goes back on his word!"

"Hiyori!" Shinji was moaning, frowning at the two girls. "Don't kill her. That's our bargaining chip you're suffocating." Toushirou watched as Hiyori retaliated with a volley of stinging retorts. Throughout, Hiyori didn't let go of Karin's arms. The blonde was evidently in a good mood.

"Ah, will you keep quiet already?" Shinji was pretending to clean his ear. "We've got places to go. The others are already at the gate." Toushirou met Shinji's eyes. A quiet exchange. Then Shinji left, Hiyori closely following, still shouting obscenities at the man.

"What are you doing, Karin? Hurry up! And you too, Midget! Get your ass in gear!" And thus they departed for the gate. The two guards who normally stood sentry at the Senkaimon were there, preparing the gate to be opened. All the Vizard were assembled, as were Kurosaki Ichigo and Karin. Toushirou stood among them, feeling welcomed. It was a strange feeling. A nice feeling. His eyes focused once more on Karin, who was trading jabs with Hiyori, a wide smile spread over her face.

A hand thumped him lightly on the back and Toushirou looked up to find Kurosaki Ichigo grinning down at him. "You did good in there. Thank you, Toushirou_._"_ You got my sister back_, was what Kurosaki was saying. Toushirou felt the substitute Shinigami's approval and was taken aback for a moment, unsure. In the end he simply shrugged, turning away. "Don't mention it," he said, and Kurosaki laughed at him.

"Stand back!" came the call and then white light flooded the square as all assembled blinked to try and clear their sight of spots. The gate was open and Toushirou felt a weight settle in his stomach. They'd be leaving now.

A hand gripped his own tightly. "Come visit soon." Karin was standing very close to him and her hand was warm and nice. _Her thank you_. "You'd better come visit, Toushirou. You hear?"

He allowed himself to return her grasp. "As long as Hacchi lets me in."

"Of course." Karin was grinning, a happy light in her eyes. "Hacchi always lets in friends." They shared something then, through their linked hands and joined eyes, and it made Toushirou's heart thump in his skull.

"We're going on ahead," Shinji was calling, distant and vague, part of the background. "Don't get lost!"

Then Karin was stepping back and her hand withdrawing from his, and Toushirou wished he could hold it a bit longer. "Well," Karin was saying, shifting from foot to foot, fingers twitching. "See ya."

He found his voice calling after her, "Karin!" She stopped immediately, turning around quickly, almost eagerly, a "Yes?" falling from her lips. But then he didn't know what to say, because he hadn't meant to say anything at all, just keep her with him a little longer. So he licked his lips and flicked his eyes up at the gate behind her and then back to her, to the gate.

"Um, good luck. I guess. Yes. Good luck."

She seemed a little disappointed, but nodded quickly and quirked her mouth and turned again, taking a half-step before whirling back around and saying, "Thank you! Toushirou. Yes, thank you."

And he was nodding, because he's a moron, and she's turning towards the gate again and he was asking himself if he's a coward, before grabbing her arm and stopping her again, steeling himself as he meets her head-on, pressing a quick, barely-there kiss to her cheek. He knows his face is as brilliantly red as hers is. He can imagine the steam issuing from her ears. Then he nodded, decisively, looking as though he'd just closed a business deal, before turning precisely 180 degrees and stalking back towards his office, robotically.

Karin watched him go in a haze. Her vision was fuzzy at the edges, so she slapped two palms to her cheeks, shaking herself awake. Then she rounded on the gate and stomped right through it, catching Mashiro as the bubbly green-haired girl stepped into the white space. Hiyori was grinning wolfishly and Karin knew that the blonde had seen. In fact, there was a general smug air about the Vizard and Karin bristled, but could not keep the goofy grin from her own cheeks.

So it wasn't a proper kiss just yet… but that would come. Right now, she had a life to continue with.

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW! EPILOGUE TO COME!**


	11. Epilogue: Moving Occasions

**Here we are. It's almost sad, really. But at the same time I am so relieved. I'm sure you are too. **

**Enjoy this last chapter!**

**Title: Secrets, Twists and Chaos; [Chapter 11; Moving Occasions]**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

The teapot sat cozily in the middle of the round table, a steady ribbon of steam spiraling up towards the ceiling of Inoue's apartment. Watching her two best friends in the world interact, Inoue felt at peace. She took another sip, listening to their conversation about how their lives were progressing. Tatsuki had just handed a ticket to Matsumoto, saying that the busty fukutaicho had to come watch her in the finals of her karate tournament. That was where Tatsuki's life had taken her: to the top of the pile of karate champions. Sometimes Inoue felt that her own life was mediocre compared to that, but Rangiku had quickly reassured her that studying to be a doctor and gaining an internship with Ishida Ryuken - a notoriously difficult person to work with - was an achievement of epic proportions. Tatsuki sometimes teased her that her choice in clothing - which was still predominantly white and black - influenced her decision to become a doctor, wearing a white coat all the time. They'd all had a good laugh over that.

Conversation had now turned to Matsumoto's life in the Soul Society. "Apparently the soutaicho has been inviting Hirako Shinji to the captain's meetings lately!"

Tatsuki looked confused for a moment. "But… hasn't he been at the captains' meetings for the past three years already? You know, seeing as he is the elected captain of the Satellite Squad? It only makes sense for him to be there."

"Well, sure," Matsumoto agreed, "but the soutaicho has only recently allowed an official update to be sent to Hirako when a meeting is supposed to happen. Before, Shinji was always relying on Kyouraku and Ukitake-taicho to tell him when to arrive, which was a real pain for poor Nanao-chan to handle."

"Ah," Inoue exclaimed, "so the soutaicho has become nice!"

Tatsuki grimaced, remembering her encounter with the gruff old man about a year ago. "I wonder about that…"

"Well," Matsumoto shifted, lifting her cup of tea, "at least they're being treated like an official squad now. Mostly."

"Mostly?" Inoue blinked, wondering what her friend meant.

"Well yeah, they're still refusing to wear the shihakusho, aren't they?" Matsumoto took another big gulp of her tea, then sighed, scrutinizing it as though she wished it would transform into sake instead.

Tatsuki refilled her cup. "Well, Shinji does put the captain's haori on when he goes for the meetings but he tosses it as soon as he steps into the warehouse again. Karin told me he hates the thing. Says it itches." The girl grinned, remembering that moment. "But he also puts it on when he goes to the Soul Society in general. Something about appearance or so."

"Now that you mention it, I did see him wearing it when Nanao and I went for tea with Kyouraku and Ukitake-taicho. Shinji was there too, wearing the haori." Matsumoto tapped her chin.

"He was?" Inoue asked.

"Yes, and Hiyori-chan too. And Lisa-san too, which explains why Nanao-chan wanted to go." Matsumoto giggled behind her hand. "Nanao-chan is still so happy to see her childhood idol, even three years later."

"Three years is a long time," Tatsuki said, wistfully.

"Yes," Inoue agreed. "Anything can happen." She was stirring her tea, but her voice was taking on that determined, dreamy quality that it got when she was about to go off on a fantastical tangent. "Traitors can become friends, hatred can turn to trust and forbidden love can blossom!" She made an excited noise, pressing hands tightly against her cheeks. "Ah! It's so romantic!"

Tatsuki sent her friend a lopsided smile. "You're still gushing about them, even three years later." Tatsuki was smiling softly.

"Of course!" Inoue exclaimed, a fist clenched fiercely. "Friendship begun in light of a war, affection forbidden by the law, blossoming to love in its aftermath…" The girl sighed dreamily again, a blush on her cheeks. "It's so sweet!"

Tatsuki allowed herself a small smile. "I guess, if you put it like that. Makes me think that relationships between Shinigami and humans are not so impossible."

Matsumoto gave Tatsuki a sly nudge, a lecherous grin spreading across her face, mischief in her eyes. "Oh? Having trouble with a certain red-head, Tatsuki-chan?"

Tatsuki's cheeks instantly coloured bright red, embarrassment taking hold in seconds. "No! I just-"

"Don't be shy now, Tatsuki-chan!" Matsumoto gushed. Tatsuki's cheeks went redder. Matsumoto calmed a little, voice taking on a slightly more serious note an her smile becoming more fond than mocking. "Despite everything, you guys are still close, beating the odds, even if you're only friends... for now."

"Despite everything," Tatsuki agreed, a tint of melancholy in her voice, a blush on her cheeks from Matsumoto's insinuations. Tatsuki's mind briefly flashed to the visit she'd made to the Soul Society a year ago. She'd been invited by the soutaicho to represent the humans to discuss some matters concerning Karakura. The meeting had gone well, but what followed had not. An experiment gone wrong, so to speak. Tatsuki sighed, fingering her cup, then shook the dark memories off, perking up. "But it's not like I've been alone through all of this. I've had you guys, my friends." She smiled. "That's more than enough."

A warm feeling settled over their group, happy thoughts swimming about them contentedly.

A loud, screeching quack echoed around the apartment then and Matsumoto looked around, bewildered, while Tatsuki heaved a sigh, one hand massaging her temples. Inoue jumped up, grinning. "That doorbell sound always makes me smile!" Then she rushed to the door.

* * *

Sometimes she wondered why she was still here.

Nail polish. Mothers. Rising celebrities. Fashion disasters. Bargains. Mothers. Crushes. Overbearing parents.

These topics circled around the mouths of her friends, repeating themselves in various combinations to be reused again later. Sometimes she wondered what she could possibly have to say to them, these people who were genuinely nice but also so ignorant of anything beyond their spheres of interest. Like death. Never once had Yuzu heard them talk about death. Of course, they had no reason to. Most of them still had families that were intact. Untouched by such tragedy. Those who didn't never said much about it, immersing themselves in affairs of the living, as should be done by those still alive.

But that was the difference between them and her.

Yuzu shook her thoughts off. It was break time right now. The sun was out, the birds were singing, the trees rustled with a light summer wind and the dappled shadows fell softly onto her and the little group of girls that she sat with. Saya-chan had brought a blanket - a nice thick one with sturdy plastic lining the bottom so that the damp grass would not soak through the blanket and into their skirts. A sensible choice. Yuzu took another bite from the lunchbox she had made that morning in the empty kitchen.

Conversation had moved to the results from their last test. "Yuzu-chan," Mari-chan asked, turning happy eyes on her, "How did you do?"

"Me? Oh, well, alright." A smile, because it helped.

"Alright?" Ayame-chan asked, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Yuzu-chan, you always get the highest score though. Just alright?"

Yuzu nodded, still smiling, trying to laugh and make it sound like she was embarrassed. "Yes, well, I've been busy lately…" That was true. Helping former outlaws move planes of existence was a tiring job. "So I haven't had as much time to study."

Honestly, Yuzu could never quite reconcile her life. Her work clashed so often with her schoolwork. Her responsibilities clashed so often with her free time. At times, Yuzu wondered of what use an education would be to her. It wasn't like the rest of her family had much need of it. Yuzu now understood her brother and sister's slipping academics a lot more.

_Why am I still here? _The question had been sitting in her head for a few months now but had grown ever more insistent and nagging about a year ago.

"Ne ne, Yuzu-chan," Yumi-chan called, leaning over. "Your sister has been absent a lot, hasn't she?"

Another smile - a standard response - although her back stiffened. Yumi-chan was a natural gossip with no filter on her mouth and often did not mean the things she said to be mean. She truly didn't. So Yuzu tilted the corners of her mouth up, closed her eyes and said, "Don't worry, Yumi-chan. Karin-chan is doing fine. She just has a lot of things to take care of." _As do I. Why am I still here?_

"I'm not worried," one of the others said. Saya-chan. "Actually a bit relieved. Karin-san scares me a little." Saya-chan shyly poked at her lunch, head lowered, voice soft. Such a nice girl, but ignorant words.

"Me too," Yumi-chan admitted, and Yuzu was careful to keep her face passive as her fist tightened. _Why am I still here?_ "She always looks too serious to approach, like she's got something better to do than talk to you. And she gets angry quickly too-"

Yuzu stabbed her chopsticks right through the blanket, ripping the sturdy fabric, slamming them into the ground. The girls fell silent immediately, a tense hush falling over the group at the dark look on sweet little Yuzu's face. Maybe it was because of the harsh words about her sister, or maybe it was to prove that Karin wasn't the only one who could get angry. Regardless, Yuzu chose her words carefully, speaking clearly. "Karin-chan _is_ too busy to deal with you. And so am I." She looked up, resolve in her eyes and steel in her back. She stood then, brushing her skirt off and gathering her things. "I won't be coming back. Neither will Karin. I wish you all luck for your futures."

And she left the three girls sitting on the damaged blanket under the tree with their lunch boxes and good hearts and silly conversation. She walked away and smiled, wider and wider the further away she got. She'd never felt so free in all her life! She skipped right up to the locked front school gate, laughter bubbling beneath the surface. Easily, smiling, she jumped over it - all three meters high as it was-, giggling as she landed safely on the other side.

Vaguely, Yuzu wondered if she should move back in with her father. After all, it would make her life a lot simpler and the commute to work much shorter. And she wouldn't be spending so much time alone at home. She smiled as she thought, swinging her heavy book bag easily by one hand, skipping down the sidewalk and ignoring the curious glances from other pedestrians.

Yes, Yuzu decided, that's what she'd do. But first she'd stop by Inoue's house and let the older girl know what she was going to do. Tatsuki was probably there and maybe Yuzu could pick up her ticket for Tatsuki's last karate match.

* * *

The two lines of captains stood at attention, facing each other. It was progressing into the third hour of the meeting, and Shinji was remembering why he'd hated these things so much. It was a bit awkward having two lines of uneven numbers, but the soutaicho had come up with the ingenious idea - back when the old fart had still been resentful - of simply sticking Shinji on the end of the row of even numbers, meaning that he stood at the end of the line, directly beside the crazy scientist, which always made for a strained atmosphere given their mutual dislike of the other. Relations between the two - which had been relatively neutral - took a plummet just over a year ago when Mayuri had figured out that it must have been Toushirou who had stolen those amplification devices to use them to visit the Vizard. Luckily, the crazy man had no proof except his intuition, and the soutaicho had refused to act simply on that. The incident following that fiasco - an accident, Mayuri claimed - had simply cemented the Vizard's dislike of the scientist. The fact that Hitsugaya had been the intended target and Kurosaki's friend had been hit instead had been pure chance.

Right at that moment, the soutaicho was giving Mayuri a right old scolding and Shinji was loving every second of it. Apparently some invention had malfunctioned and blown three new recruits to smithereens. Serious business. Personally, Shinji didn't know what three new recruits were doing around such volatile experiments anyway, but refrained from commenting. This reprimanding from the soutaicho was first class entertainment, and Shinji could openly admit that he took pleasure in Mayuri's embarrassment. So he looked away and tried not to appear too smug lest the soutaicho turn on him next.

On Mayuri's other side, Toushirou was standing with a supremely bored look on his face. From the small glances that the youngest captain was shooting the scientist, Hitugaya was also enjoying Mayuri's embarrassment. Shinji caught Hitsugaya's eye and the two traded minute grins.

Finally the soutaicho moved on the Ukitake, asking for a brief on the 13th Division's state. Ukitake was brief, concise, and reported that all was well. When the soutaicho inquired as to Ukitake's health, the sickly man simply smiled and replied, "I am well at the moment. And in the times that I am not, I have my dear Kuchiki-san to depend on. She is a most excellent fukutaicho." Shinji wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that he saw Byakuya's lips twitch in pride.

With a nod, the soutaicho turned attention onto Shinji. He straightened and sent a grin at the old man. Things had been strained between them for a while, given the soutaicho's initial bitterness towards them, but that had worn away over time. Shinji was grateful. Now, three years later, things were beginning to look up.

"Hirako. Your report on the state of the Satellite Division."

"Yes," Shinji drawled, stepping forward, adjusting the haori draped over his shoulders. He began his report then, keeping it brief. He knew that by now most captains were itching to get out of the hall and back to the safety of their desks and squads. He himself couldn't wait to return to the World of the Living. Maybe Yuzu would bring a pie over later. What with the move happening soon, the Vizard's warehouse hideout was all but cleared out. He concluded with a report on the increase in Hollow activity in Karakura. "There's still so many people around with such high reiatsu…" Shinji tapered off, eyes on the ceiling, thinking. "The land's just getting richer and richer in reiatsu. It's getting dangerous, but we've dealt with it so far. And Hacchi seals us up when we're moving about so that we don't add to the situation, ya know? You've made arrangements to take our place from tomorrow?" Shinji asked, just to check. As expected, nods were received from all. They had gone over these plans so many times that there was really no need for him to ask, but Shinji liked to cover all his bases.

"Hirako-taicho," the soutaicho began, "what of your new recruit?"

Shinji smiled, remembering. "She's good. Coping well. Adjusting fine and so far there have been no complications in her condition." He sent a sideways look at Mayuri, a somewhat bitter look crossing his face. "No thanks to some people."

The scientist merely shrugged and tossed his hands up, uncaring. "It was not my fault. She should not have been standing there in the first place."

Shinji rolled his eyes, having heard that line from Mayuri many times before. It always left a bad taste in his mouth, knowing that the man bore no guilt for what he had done to one of Kurosaki's friends.

Komamura growled, making his dislike of Mayuri known. "What lies. You knew very well that the girl was standing where she was when you decided to push that button." Another growl ripped from the captain's jaws. "You disgust me."

Mayuri grinned, a glint to his eyes. "If it helps, I wasn't aiming for her."

A loud bang brought attention back to the soutaicho and the irritated expression upon the old man's face. Every captain bore a healthy amount of respect for the man even if they didn't particularly like him. The squabbling ended immediately and both Mayuri and Komamura stepped back into line. In his peripheral vision, Shinji caught sight of Hitsugaya's fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Hurriedly, Shinji turned back to the soutaicho and gave a short bow, saying, "That is all."

"Is there any more?" the soutaicho glanced around. "Nothing more to report?" For a second, there was silence, and Shinji allowed himself the fleeting hope that he might be allowed to leave and that Hitsugaya would be able to flee the hall and let off some steam elsewhere.

But then a hand rose into the air and Shinji fought back a groan. "I have something I need to discuss with you, Yama-jii."

All heads turned towards the newly instated captain of the 3rd Division, whose hand was still raised. The soutaicho regarded the captain solemnly, "Yes, Kurosaki?"

Standing opposite Soi Fon, Kurosaki Isshin grinned easily, adjusting his haori over his shoulders. "Actually," he said, "it's about my daughters."

* * *

Yuzu stepped from the senkaimon, drawing in a deep breath as she emerged from the space of white light. Smiling sweetly at the guards, who had learned her by name over the past two years, she walked off after greeting them briefly, completely overlooking the blush that crossed the younger one's face. "Idiot!" the older one hissed at his colleague as Yuzu strode down the street, out of earshot. "Do you have any idea who her family is?!" That quickly put a damper on any interest from the younger guard.

Yuzu was not as far out of earshot as the guards had believed however. A slight red blush was spread over her cheeks. It was always embarrassing when whispers started and Yuzu was still very shy about the attention she was starting to gather. Karin always told her to smile and see what happened, but Yuzu was too shy. Just because her twin had someone who was something like a boyfriend - both Karin and Hitsugaya refused to use that term, for some reason - didn't mean that Yuzu did or wanted. Not yet, anyway.

The buildings of the Seireitei rose around her as she walked and Yuzu smiled at those, because this was one part of her life that she was absolutely certain about.

"Oi!" a shout came from her right. "Yuzu!"

A small café was tucked into the side of the road. Two little tables stood out front, only one of them occupied. Yuzu's face lit up as she recognized the people. "Onii-chan!" she yelled and dashed over, coming to a skidding stop mere centimeters away from their table. "Renji-nii, Rukia-nee, how are you?"

The three Shinigami grinned at her. Renji clapped her on the shoulder. "Good to see you in your shihakushou again, Yuzu-chan."

Yuzu only just stopped herself from stumbling and grinned at the boisterous man. He was so similar to Ichigo sometimes… "Thank you, Renji-nii. By the way, I have a package for you from Tatsuki-chan." Yuzu fished around in her small backpack for it, finally withdrawing a sealed envelope and a small stack of coloured slips. She handed him the letter, sending him a grin along with it when she spied the hint of awkwardness about the red-head. Rukia sent her friend a much lewder grin and Ichigo elbowed Renji in the ribs. He batted them both off.

Yuzu presented each of the Shinigami with a coloured slip next. "Also, here are tickets for Tatsuki's upcoming karate finals. She really wants you all to come." They each took one and Renji gave his ticket a wry grin.

"Isn't it unfair though?" he wondered out loud. "Entering a martial arts competition designed for humans?"

Yuzu waved his concern off. "Tatsuki has always been good enough to get to the finals, even before the accident. Now her winning is just a given instead of a strong possibility." She smiled angelically while the others blinked at her logic. "Besides," Yuzu continued, "this is her last competition. She's moving tomorrow, you know that."

Rukia was the first to shrug it off while the two guys were still trying to puzzle out if that made it fair or not. "Anyway, Yuzu, what are you doing here? Isn't school still on?"

Ichigo snapped to attention with that. "Ah! That's right! What are you doing here, Yuzu?"

He seemed truly concerned about her school performance and for a moment Yuzu wondered if she should tell him. But then she remembered how long she had agonized over this decision, and steeled herself for the confrontation. "I quit," she said, and smiled. The others gaped.

Rukia ventured a question first. "What do you mean, Yuzu?"

"I quit," she repeated again, still happy, that same giddy feeling from before overtaking her once more. "I walked out during break. I've decided. I'm staying here this time. For good." She held up the 'peace' sign, a rosy blush decorating her young cheeks.

"Ah, I see." Again, Rukia was the first to recover. She smiled at the girl. "That's good, Yuzu-"

"Rukia!" Ichigo interrupted, his face pale, his look scandalized, horrified, shocked. "But, Yuzu, you can't just quit school!" Ichigo looked truly concerned, a deep frown on his face. "What will you do if you don't finish school? You won't have a job or make money and you'll starve and then-"

Rukia used the water jug to whack him over the head. Ichigo's face smacked into the table with a resounding thud. He rebounded, clutching the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

Rukia snapped at him, still clutching the jug. "Idiot! Like you're one to talk! You quit school as well."

"I was sixteen and-"

"You might as well have quit at 15, with the amount of days that you skipped!" Rukia retorted. Yuzu giggled, watching as Rukia gave her brother no room to bargain. She resolved to thank the girl later.

Ichigo was blinking, an unhappy look crossing his face and Rukia smiled.

"Onii-chan," Yuzu began, looking serious. "People go to school to learn and to get a certificate that will help them get a job to help them make money and live a good life. But, you see, I don't need that because, well, I'm not alive." A smile. A very cold smile. Ichigo gulped at the sight. "So I quit." She smiled more. "And that's that."

Ichigo nodded once, eyes wide. Then Yuzu grinned, relaxed her stance and suddenly she was sunny once more. Waving a goodbye to her brother and his friends, she bounced away down the road. Ichigo looked after her, a cold sheen of sweat on his brow. "Scary…"

"Yeah," Renji agreed, in a similar condition. "She's been spending too much time with Unohana-taicho."

"Well," Rukia said, "Yuzu-chan is the prospective eleventh seat of the Fourth Division, so it's only natural that she'd pick up some of her captain's habits. Especially after being Unohana-taicho's apprentice for so long…"

* * *

Shinji swept the haori off his shoulders and, with practiced ease, tossed it over his shoulder. "What a freaking-" A sandal slapped him in the face and he yelped.

"You're late!" Hiyori proclaimed loudly, shoving her foot back into his face. "You lazy slob!"

"Me?! I'm the lazy slob?"

"Yes, you are! You are the lazy slob!"

"I've just been standing in a meeting for four hours! For you! How am I a lazy-"

"You took too long, baldy! While you were gone we packed the rest of the boxes, including your junk!"

"It couldn't be helped," Shinji grumbled, shoving her foot from his face. "Kurosaki was going on about Yuzu-chan! I couldn't leave!"

Hiyori froze, interested, one hand pulling at Shinji's cheek now. "Yuzu? What about her?"

Karin appeared then, curious after hearing her sister's name. She had her hair pulled back and her sleeves rolled up and was covered in dust. "Yuzu? What about Yuzu?"

Shinji rolled his eyes at how similar the two short spitfires were. Although, Karin had grown in the past three years, so she wasn't quite as short anymore. "Isshin wanted to discuss her living arrangements or something. I wasn't really paying attention-" Hiyori slapped him again, tearing into him for not caring about his friends.

Karin rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I don't see how that's a problem. Yuzu's half dead anyway, so her having to stay in the World of the Living seems stupid, especially since she's already a Shinigami and working in the Fourth Division and studying under Unohana herself. She's also mostly alone at home since I'm here more and more while Ichi-nii practically lives in the Soul Society and otou-san already does." Karin rubbed a hand over her cheek, smearing dust across it. "Besides, we won't be here for much longer anyway."

"Yeah," Shinji rubbed his sore cheek. "Isshin wanted to make sure that when Yuzu-chan decided to move to the Soul Society permanently it wouldn't be a problem."

"Smart to bring it up in the meeting room with the other captains," Love piped up from his rock. "He'd have a lot of support if the soutaicho disagreed.

"Yeah," Shinji said, now rolling his shoulders, which were stiff from standing still for so long. "But old Yama-jii didn't seem to mind much. Said yes and everything really easily."

"Huh," Karin said, blinking. "Odd."

"He's getting softer," Rose agreed. "Perhaps in a few more years he won't mind us at all."

"He doesn't mind us now," Shinji disagreed.

"He doesn't mind _you_ now," Hiyori corrected. "He still hasn't forgiven me for calling him an old fart." Some snickers broke out at that.

Shinji stopped then, looking around. "By the way, where is our newbie?"

"Redberry-tan said she's coming soon-" Mashiro started and then tumbled off her rock as a running shoe hit her in the face.

"Stop calling me redberry-tan!" an angry voice called from the entrance. Tatsuki stood with her hands on her hips, scowling at the green-haired girl.

"Owie," Mashiro complained, getting back up, gently prodding at the growing bump. "That hurt, redberry-tan-"

"I said stop it!" Tatsuki shouted again, stalking over to the group and scooping her shoe off the ground.

"But," Mashiro pouted, still holding her head, "You go all red when red-head-tan is around."

Proving the point, Tatsuki instantly went bright red. "S-shut up."

Mashiro laughed and then ran as Tatsuki proceeded to chase the girl around the room. Love was shaking his head, a small smile on his face. Shinji heaved a sigh and then looked around. "Where's Kensei?"

"He's in town," Karin answered, "getting lunch." She stilled for a second then, sensing for reiatsu, and let a grin spread across her face. "Oi, Toushirou!"

Heads turned towards the stairs leading into the basement where Toushirou was entering, hands in the pockets of his casual clothing. He sent an easy smile around the room and then dodged Hiyori's projectile sandal.

"Stop looking all cool and help us move boxes, shorty!" Hiyori yelled before stomping away. Toushirou rolled his eyes, now taking more care while crossing the room towards the other Vizard in case Hiyori decided to come back with a second attack.

"Hitsugaya!" Shinji said, sarcasm in his voice. "We thought you weren't going to show!"

Again he rolled his eyes. "Just because you sprinted from the meeting like the Hounds of Hell were on your heels doesn't mean the rest of us will."

"Think you're smart with your new sayings, ey?" Shinji was grinning widely. "Where are the others?"

Toushirou shrugged, coming to stand beside Karin. "Matsumoto says she's coming soon, but don't count on it. The same goes for Kyouraku, though perhaps Ukitake will get him here half-sober. I don't know about Kira and Hisagi, but they'll probably show when Matsumoto does."

"What about Ichi-nii?"

"Don't know. Maybe he forgot." That earned him a slap on the shoulder from Karin, which he simply returned with raised eyebrows.

"Well come on then," Shinji said with a sigh. "Maybe they'll all pitch up by the time we're done eating. We're doing a last sweep of the building before Kensei comes back with that lunch, and then we're moving, regardless of who's here to help or not." He went stalking off, his long legs carrying him across the rocks swiftly towards where the others were squabbling over yet another item's sentimental worth.

Toushirou heaved another sigh and Karin shoved him. "Don't pretend to be all tired and irritated, Toushirou, we all know you secretly like us."

He sent her a skeptical look, which she merely laughed at. She then ruffled his hair, like she always did. And, as always, Toushirou absently batted her hand away, silently asking with his eyes if that was really necessary and she grinned, silently replying that yes, it really was.

"So I've been recruited to move boxes today," he said, sounding rather resigned to his fate. "And the time before it was to pack those boxes and the time before it was to find those boxes."

"Yup, that's about right," Karin replied cheerily. She was brimming with energy, eager to begin this next step of her life. Toushirou had to smile at her, because her enthusiasm was infectious. "Hope you got all your paperwork done."

"No," he told her, already cringing at the piles waiting for him at his desk. "You're coming to help me tonight."

"Uh-uh, no way," Karin backed away. "Tonight is the party, remember? _The infamous Satellite Squad - virtually unseen and unknown for the three years since its formation - is finally moving base to the Soul Society_." She said that in an official-announcer-like voice, striking a pose of someone lecturing. Toushirou knew that she was merely quoting a line from Hisagi's newspaper. "Remember? Everyone has to be there."

Toushirou cursed under his breath and Karin sent him a concerned look. "You really forgot?" He nodded, a little wearily and Karin frowned. "That's not like you."

"Just tired," he muttered. Truthfully, he'd been sleeping terribly for the past few months, ever since the Vizard announced that they would be moving back to the Soul Society, as once unit. After the 'accident' of infecting Arisawa Tatsuki with a Hollow had happened - which Mayuri took no responsibility for - the Vizard had decided that moving to the Soul Society would be best. Like that, they would involve no other humans and Karakura's spirit levels had a chance of returning to normal. It made sense, it really did, but Toushirou had his worries nonetheless. It had been three years since the war, but that was a very short time frame for a Shinigami. While the other captains had begun to warm up to Shinji, the normal recruits would likely not be as accommodating.

And Karin was moving into this kind of environment. But she'd skin him if he told her that he was worried about that, so he kept quiet. Besides, his worries were silly. She was more than capable of handling herself. In fact, he should be worried about anyone stupid enough to cross her. So he didn't tell her.

Then again, he didn't have to. Maybe it was because they had spent three years together, or maybe just because they had grown so close. But she knew what he was thinking and then her face was pulling into a frown again and she gave him a shove. "Quit worrying. Your hair will fall out."

So he nodded and told her to stop being stupid, he wasn't worried, and she rolled her eyes and accepted his unspoken pledge to try.

Toushirou shoved her back and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Karin had grown. She was now tall, her black hair was longer and she'd become stronger. She'd mastered cero a while back and was now working on increasing her abilities of Instant Regeneration. Toushirou thought her beautiful, but he wouldn't tell her yet, because she was still shy about such things. So instead he called her strong and brave and stupid, because those were compliments that she knew how to handle.

Toushirou often thanked his lucky stars that he'd grown too. A few times, Karin had come to visit him in the Soul Society and she'd caught him standing on his tiptoes while looking into the mirror. He admitted to being a bit smug whenever the issue of height came up, especially whenever Hiyori called him short and went stomping off because she knew that she hadn't grown an inch herself.

They were heading towards the scramble of bodies now. Toushirou caught a few snippets of angry voices laying claim to the rice cooker. Meeting these people - no, being abducted by these people - had been a momentous and somewhat unsettling experience. But really, that wasn't the moment that Toushirou counted as the 'turning point' of his life. No, his turning point was that silly Kendo match that Ikkaku had dragged him to. And everything after that was all just a big mess of chaotic twists and turns.

Karin was glancing his way. "If you're going to grin like that you have to tell me what's so funny."

And because Toushirou liked to tease her, even now, he answered, "A secret."

She slapped him upside the head. "Stop spacing out on me all the time, idiot. We have a home to move."

* * *

END

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story! This is the end, the end, the end! Please, please, please leave a review!**

**About Yuzu and Tatsuki: I left it vague on purpose. How did Yuzu become a Shinigami? How did Tatsuki become a Vizard? I have answers for those and maybe, if the fancy strikes me, I'll write another separate story explaining these things. However, they simply didn't fit into this chapter without making it seem stilted and odd. In the meantime, imagine the stories for yourselves. I'd be glad to hear some of your ideas! **

**When I first began writing this story, I was still in High School. I have recently (after finishing High School) reread the earlier chapters and I cringed. But I am leaving it as it is. Call it a way for me to look back on my progress as a writer. **

**Another thing is that, in this story, Ichigo retains his powers, the soutaicho does not lose an arm as well as a whole host of other things that changed from the original manga. Basically, the war was over in my story by the time I'd reached chapter six. I put chapter six up long before Kubo wrote out the war in the manga. That's why there are unexplained inconsistencies. I am leaving those as they are too.**

**As for Yuzu dropping out of school, don't do that kids. Don't do that. She's a fictional character in a fictional story about a fictional world. Don't copy her.**

**And finally a HUGE thanks to all those who supported me in this! Every single review was appreciated and every single person telling me to continue this story is owed thanks because they are the reason that I finally got off my butt and finished this. **

**I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and that you are satisfied with the end. **


End file.
